Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday expressed regret for referring to President Obama as a “son of a bitch” and said his nation seeks closer ties with the United States.
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Obama and Duterte had been set to meet in Laos this week, where Obama is attending a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders. “We will end up disrespecting each other if you do that to me”. “I will curse you in that forum”, Mr Duterte told reporters when asked about his message for Mr Obama.
On Monday, Duterte lashed out at the United States for raising questions about a “drug war” that has killed 2,400 Filipinos.
In a statement read out by his spokesman, Duterte said that while his “strong comments” in response to questions by a reporter “elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the USA president”.
“Today I stand with you in acknowledging the suffering and sacrifices on all sides of that conflict”, Obama said in a speech at the Lao National Cultural Hall.
Now, with China pressing its claims to most of the South China Sea, some – but not all – want US forces back.
Letting his temper fly is not unusual for the Filipino president, who has controversially made declarations calling Pope Francis a “son of a whore” and labeling Secretary of State John Kerry “crazy”.
Laos is the final Asian visit of Obama’s eight-year presidency, during which he has sought to refocus American military, political and economic resources on the region.
Speaking to reporters on Monday before his departure, Duterte blasted the United States for its own record on human rights, having previously criticized it for a high death rate among black Americans.
Park said South Korea would respond “resolutely” to any provocation by the North and she echoed Obama’s call for sanctions to be used, adding China had a role to play in implementing them.
It also soured Obama’s last swing as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of US foreign policy, a strategy widely seen as a response to China’s economic and military muscle-flexing.
Obama indicated Monday he was wary of meeting with Duterte, suggesting the bombast could prevent making substantial progress between the two nations. “There’s a protocol for that”, Duterte said.
He pointed to the killing of Muslim Moros more than a century ago during a USA pacification campaign in the southern Philippines, blaming the wounds of the past as “the reason why (the south) continues to boil” with separatist insurgencies.
Duterte declined a request to meet United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon in Laos, even as he clarified that his threat to leave the United Nations was just a joke. “If (Obama) can answer that question and give the apology, I will answer him”.
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Earnest promised that President Obama would “certainly not going to pull any punches in raising well documented and relevant concerns when it comes to human rights”.
