Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has cut ties with the United States, pledging allegiance to China as the two countries settled their long-running dispute over the South China Sea.
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“It’s not severance of ties”.
The top American diplomat in the country on Friday said the United States was not suing the Philippines “for divorce” as he sought a clarification on the statement of President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte that he was “separating” from the US. “I can not do that”, he reportedly said on Friday (21 October) night after arriving at his hometown Davao.
“The more friends the better, we should expand our ties with other countries also like Japan, Korea, and China”, he added.
The U.S. seems to have been caught off guard by Duterte’s announcement that the Philippines would separate from the U.S. Well, Americans of Filipino ancestry.
After White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that Duterte’s comments were “creating unnecessary uncertainty in our relationship” and hadn’t been clarified, Duterte himself explained them in a way that will do little to ease U.S. concerns or the sudden tensions between the allies of 70 years.
“I’ve been waiting for that report but, until now I haven’t, so I really did not know what the mystery was about”, he was quoted by the Philippines Star as saying.
At an economic forum Thursday in Beijing, Duterte declared “my separation from the United States. both in military and economics also”.
Xi and Duterte on Thursday agreed to a resumption of direct talks on disputes in the South China Sea, following years of rising tension.
Philippine Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella has been busy lately, trying to walk back controversial comments from his volatile boss, President Rodrigo Duterte. “It’s the only way”. “Assistance, USAID, you can go to hell”, he said, referring to the American program responsible for sending foreign aid. “That does not appear to be independent because being independent means you treat everybody equally”, Golez said.
Earlier officials in Manila were left scrambling to explain the latest comments from Duterte, whose broadsides against the United States have grown increasingly frequent.
After his comments, the White House expressed concern saying there had been “too many” troubling statements from Duterte recently. The outspoken Duterte has been clashing with United States policymakers in public comments for months.
When Duterte threatened to end annual military exercises with the United States, his foreign minister, Perfecto Yasay, was caught by surprise.
Friday, the leader clarified that his remarks meant that the Philippines’ foreign policy doesn’t always need to align with Washington’s.
Beijing rejected a recent worldwide court ruling in Manila’s favor and has long called for bilateral negotiations in which other parties do not participate. “The statement the President made maintains the relationship with the West”.
Duterte has also launched a hardline war on drugs in the Philippines, which has killed more than 2,000 drug users, dealers, and innocent civilians in a few short months. “You saw what happened with the Philippines after years and years and years; they’re now looking to Russian Federation and China, because they don’t feel good about the weak America”, Trump claimed.
“Eventually I might in my term, break up with America”.
“I believe in Duterte”, he added.
The US and Philippines operate under a 1951 mutual defense treaty, which Duterte has said he doesn’t plan to abrogate. “To stand otherwise, is not what Filipinos are, it is not what we do, it is not what is right”. The government expects the market to generate upward of $25 billion in revenue this year.
It has also been in stark contrast to the language he has used against the United States after being infuriated by USA criticism of his bloody war on drugs.
Duterte’s opponents at home were damning, however.
“This is an interesting courtship between China and the Philippines”, Glaser wrote. Leila de Lima, a longtime Duterte, said in a statement. On Friday, Albert del Rosario, the Philippines’ former foreign minister, called Duterte’s shift in foreign policy a “national tragedy”.
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“Casting aside a longtime reliable ally to hastily embrace an aggressive neighbor that vehemently rejects global law is both unwise and incomprehensible”, he said in a statement.
