Obama had been set for a showdown with firebrand Duterte on Tuesday as a regional summit gets underway in Asia, and amid tensions over China’s growing territorial ambitions. Duterte is set to meet President Obama at a regional summit in Laos on September 6, and lashed out at the American president ahead of their meeting.
Advertisement
The president framed his outreach to Laos as a finishing touch on his so-called rebalance policy in Asia, which is aimed at countering China’s influence by engaging other countries in the region.
He also thanked Japan for its significant role in the development of the Philippines, most especially in his hometown, Mindanao.
Price said the United States president, who is in Laos for meetings with South Asian leaders, instead will meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
“The United States is more deeply engaged across the Asia-Pacific than we have been in decades”, Obama said.
Duterte, who had been expecting Obama to criticize his deadly, extrajudicial crackdown on drug dealers, later said he regretted the personal attack on the president.
“While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the United States president”, the statement said.
‘We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries, ‘ the statement said.
In his typical foul-mouthed style, Duterte responded: “I am a president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony”. At least 2,400 people have been killed since he took office on July 1, including 900 in police operations against drug pushers. “I only am answerable to the Filipino people who elected me as president”. You must be respectful, Duterte said of Obama. “Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum”, he said, using the Tagalog phrase for “son of a bitch”.
He also referred to the United State’s previous colonisation of the country claiming that the U.S. had not apologised for its apparent misdeeds during its colonial rule.
Duterte is scrambling to smooth things over with the US, a longtime ally.
In one of the last acts of his so-called “pivot” to Asia, Obama is expected to announce greater help in clearing bombs dropped by USA forces on Laos during the Vietnam War.
He has also taken on a more conciliatory position with US rival China.
Advertisement
The Philippines has been aligned with the United States in its dispute with China over the South China Sea, in which Washington blames Beijing for militarising a vital global trade route and jeopardising freedom of movement at sea and in the air. -Philippine relations blossomed, expressed disappointment over the aborted meeting with the U.S.
