On Tuesday Duterte expressed regret over the remarks, but the White House canceled the formal meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
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The brief encounter came two days after Obama cancelled a meeting between them due to crude comments Duterte had directed at the USA president. This attitude has been reflected on the campaign trail, where Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also seemed more focused on the insult than on Duterte’s track record and emphasized the positive relationship the United States and the Philippines typically enjoy.
“We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me”.
Yasay says the two met in a holding room used by leaders attending a summit dinner.
“The exchange consisted of pleasantries between the two”.
This casts a regional spotlight on Duterte’s war on drugs that has killed more than 3,000 people in the Philippines.
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.
“Time will tell whether President Duterte steps back from this episode and realises he needs to recalibrate his choice of words in engaging U.S. leaders”, said Amy Searight, a former senior Pentagon official now at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
Earlier in July, the USA pledged to give the Philippines $32 million in aid for military training and services, including upholding the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the two countries.
In a statement read out Tuesday by his spokesman, Duterte said his “strong comments” to certain questions by a reporter “elicited concern and distress”.
“Son of a bitch, I will swear at you at that forum”, he said on Monday, when asked how he would respond to questions about the spate of killings amid his government’s anti-drug campaign. He said he wanted to be sure that any meeting between them would be productive.
The White House tried to play down the claim, saying it believed Chinese activity in the area was at the same level as previous months.
Again, the Philippine president later said he was only joking, but this week, Duterte said he would not meet with the United Nations secretary general at the ASEAN summit as he had “no time”.
“Clearly, he’s a colorful guy”, Obama said afterward.
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Earlier Wednesday, Mr. Obama blamed the failure to win passage of a multinational trade agreement on the fact that it’s political season in the U.S. And of course, Duterte’s profane outburst toward Obama was not spared.
