President Barack Obama has commented publicly on meeting his Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte, with whom he “exchanged pleasantries” in Laos this week after canceling a one-on-one meeting over Duterte calling Obama a “son of a whore”.
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The meeting took place just before dinner during the summit of the Southeast Asia in Vientiane, Laos, the officials said.
Obama and Duterte shook hands and briefly chatted at a holding room Wednesday night before a gala dinner.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Pefecto Yasay said that the leaders had met.
Before traveling to Laos for regional summits, Duterte said Monday that Obama should not question him about the rising death toll in his war on drugs, which has been criticized overseas and by Duterte’s opponents in the Philippines.
Clinton, who as secretary of state was an architect of Obama’s policy of emphasizing the importance of the Asia Pacific to U.S. interests in the face of a rising China, said Obama was right to cancel the meeting. Obama then decided that in light of Duterte’s comments, the two probably couldn’t have a “productive” discussion during his final presidential trip to Asia and canceled the meeting. “And I’m very happy that it happened”.
The brief encounter came two days after Obama cancelled a meeting between them due to crude comments Duterte had directed at the U.S. president. “Although statements of regret soon followed, such words and their worldwide policy also create investor concern”, it said.
After warnings from Duterte that he would not be lectured on his crime war – which is seeing police and shadowy assassins kill an average of 44 people a day – Obama urged the Philippine leader to respect the rule of law.
“They met at the holding room”. “You must be respectful”.
Tensions between the United States and the Philippines, its former colony, are unusual at high-level meetings. Do not just throw questions.
“But”, he added, “I can tell you from the interactions I’ve had over the last eight or nine days with foreign leaders, that this is serious business”.
When asked if he cared to defend his legacy, Obama said of Trump: “I don’t think the guy’s qualified to be president of the United States”.
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Sources said that Duterte was “not feeling well”.
