The Republican nominee said Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a better leader than Obama and that US generals have been “reduced to rubble” on the commander-in-chief’s watch.
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Barack Obama briefly met with Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte today, Manila said, two days after the firebrand politician branded the U.S. president a “son of a whore”.
Mr Obama’s remarks came at the end of a gruelling nine-day trip that took him to Laos and China following United States stops in Nevada, Hawaii and Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Mr Obama said he had told Mr Duterte that their aides should confer on how to move forward, adding that the spat would have no effect on the close cooperation between the longtime treaty allies.
“We have a lot of ties between the United States and the Philippines”.
“I expect to work very hard over the next four and a half months”, he said.
Duterte this week called Obama a “son of a bitch” and said he would not be lectured over extrajudicial killings in the Philippines’ drug war. Duterte, however, expressed regret over his remark.
Obama and Duterte shook hands and briefly chatted at a holding room Wednesday night before a gala dinner.
The two leaders agreed to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in a befitting manner.
In a speech during the closing ceremony of the ASEAN Summit, Duterte said he will “highlight ASEAN as a model of regionalism and a global player with the interest of the people at its core”. “It was OK”, Dureza quoted Duterte as saying.
The aircraft will be used to monitor Philippine waters, he said, at a time when the USA treaty ally is trying to boost its surveillance capabilities to cope with China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.
But the story fizzled: At a photo session with the leaders, Obama stood several spots to the left of Mr. Duterte.
Obama appeared to be having a sober exchange with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei.
U.S. President Barack Obama listens to a question during a news conference at the conclusion of his participation in the ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, Laos September 8, 2016.
Mr. Duterte was elected to office in a landslide this year after pledging to kill 100,000 people in an unprecedented war on illegal drugs.
Mr. Duterte has also repeatedly promised to protect policemen from prosecution if they are charged over the deaths and insisted human rights can not get in the way of his war on drugs.
But Duterte, who took office in June, has signaled that he is open to increased dialogue with China seeking to resolve disputes in the South China Sea, where China claims full sovereignty and has build artificial islands that some fear could have military applications.
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Duterte’s spokesman said he could not confirm or deny those reports, but added: “It is a family matter”.
