The summit ended with Laos turning over the chairmanship of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations to Duterte, whose country will host the annual diplomatic gathering next year.
Advertisement
U.S. President Barack Obama brushed off an expletive-laden attack by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, saying he didn’t take it personally and it seemed to be consistent with how the Southeast Asian leader talked generally.
Duterte arrived in Jakarta on Thursday, September 8, 2016 after attending the 28th ASEAN Summit held in Vientiane, Laos.
“As President Duterte and his team get acclimated to his new position that they are able to define and clarify, what exactly they want to get done?” Duterte swept to power in May on promises to wipe out crime and corruption within six months, pledging to wage a war on drug dealers and crush widespread addiction in a country of 100 million. Obama had canceled a formal meeting with Duterte after the new Philippine leader used a crude schoolyard epithet to insult the president and warn him not to bring up extrajudicial killings in the Philippines during their meeting.
United States has been consistently the second biggest source of worldwide visitor arrivals in the Philippines.
Despite the cancellation, the pair did meet before a dinner at the ASEAN summit – of which Mr Duterte was reported by the Star Online: “I was ready (for Obama). So, I think it seems to be just a habit, a way of speaking for him”, said Obama, while responding to a poser about Philippine President calling him “son of a whore”. “[Son of a bitch, I’ll curse you infront of everybody.] Tell that to everybody”, Duterte said.
Duterte, accompanied by some of his cabinet officials, arrived aboard a chartered Philippine Airlines plane at the global airport of his hometown in Davao City from Jakarta, Indonesia where he made a one-day state visit after attending the Asean summit in Vientiane, Laos.
A Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Charles Joe, also said Obama and Duterte met in the holding room. But as far as US officials are saying, no foul words were uttered.
Advertisement
Based from a report done by VOANews, with this verbal incident, many are assuming that the relationship between the Philippines and the United States will become strained, but in a recent speech by Barack Obama, he clarified that President Duterte’s comments will not impact Philippines and USA relations.
