Obama scrapped the meeting after Duterte insulted him when asked at a news conference what his reaction would be should the USA leader lecture him over concerns about the brutal war on illegal drugs that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in the Philippines in less than 10 weeks.
Advertisement
“The areas that we believe we have robust, strong cooperation with them, we are not going to just simply throw that aside”.
President Barack Obama says the United States focuses on improving human rights in other nations when he travels overseas because it has learned that if you don’t respect all people or religions, then it results in conflict.
President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are holding face-to-face talks on the margins of a regional summit in Laos.
Duterte issued a statement expressing regret over the outburst on Tuesday.
“I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony”, he said.
The two men shook hands and chatted for about two minutes as they waited to take their seats at a gala dinner ahead of Thursday’s East Asia Summit, according to Yasay and several of Duterte’s aides.
For nine years, the USA conducted a punishing, covert bombing campaign on landlocked Laos in an effort to cut off communist forces in neighboring Vietnam.
Modi will also meet host-nation PremierThongloun Sisoulith, South Korean president Park Geun-hye and Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung Sang Suu Kyi.
The U.S.is one of the Philippines’ largest trading partners and a security ally in its fight against Muslim militants in the country’s south. Manila also needs Washington’s help in dealing with China’s expansionist moves in the disputed South China Sea. Park also said “considering that China’s role is important in effectively implementing sanctions against the North and resolving its nuclear problem, South Korea and the USA agreed to continue communication with China through various channels”.
“This is interesting for a lot of people”, said Sompaseuth Kounnavong, who runs a small grocery store near the site of the summits.
Duterte, who campaigned for the Philippine presidency on promises to end illegal drug activity in his homeland, has alarmed an array of human rights organizations with his deadly crackdown. White House aides said later that the two might bump into each other in the halls at the ASEAN summit instead, a bit of choreographed diplomatic theater that lowers the stakes for a possibly fraught encounter. Duterte proclaimed early in his presidency that he would pursue a foreign policy not dependent on the United States.
“This is a guy that came in already with a deep-seated suspicion of the United States”, said Prashanth Parameswaran, associate editor of The Diplomat magazine and a Southeast Asia specialist. As with the Philippine affair, administration officials said the airport scene would have no spillover effect.
Advertisement
“It’s unfortunate, but doesn’t fundamentally derail the relationship”, he said.
