The top USA diplomat for East Asia said on Wednesday he did not know what a “panoply” of statements by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte since taking office this year would mean for Manila’s future security cooperation with Washington.
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Philippine Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea wrote to Agnes Callamard of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights on September 26, inviting her to visit “to see for yourself” if criticisms of President Rodrigo Duterte are “legally and factually sound”. “This means that we can expect funding commitments from both the private sector and the government”, he said.
He said he had written to Obama, Ban, US Secretary of State John Kerry, the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Commission and the European Union to explain that it was not a crime to threaten criminals.
Andanar said Duterte “cares” for the media and believes in press freedom.
Mr. Duterte is taking along a delegation of about 400 businessmen, including numerous Philippines’ biggest tycoons, in a bid to capitalize on the warming of relations that has taken place due to his efforts to placate Beijing on the South China Sea row.
He also said there will be no joint military exercises with the U.S. “next year” in a marked change from earlier statements where he insisted this year’s drills would the last ever between the longtime allies.
More than 3,700 people have been killed by police and suspected vigilantes since Mr. Duterte launched the campaign upon taking office on June 30.
Duterte said there are at least four million Filipinos who are into drugs.
The news comes six days ahead of a visit to Beijing by Duterte, accompanied by hundreds of businessmen, as he seeks to forge closer ties with the Asian giant and daily airs his dissatisfaction with traditional ally the United States.
“There is no crime at all in our law books, in our criminal world which says that the President can not threaten criminals by saying, go out of my city because I will kill you”, the chief executive said Wednesday. He has said that there’s no Philippine law barring presidents from doing that. You can cast it in whatever stone.
“To a large extent, dropping the subject does not mean the Philippines will give up its sovereignty claim, but rather it’s a way of diluting the consequences of the South China Sea ruling and mending frayed ties with China”, Li said. “So we expect that all areas of interest will be… expected to be discussed including the South China Sea”.
China has also offered support.
He said the Philippines was also interested in reviving talks related to Chinese investment in rail and telecommunications that had fallen apart under previous administrations, and would consider possible arms purchases from China.
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And he warned that there was more disrespect to come.
