In another shift, he also said Tuesday that the Philippines would stop patrolling the South China Sea alongside the U.S. Navy, to avoid upsetting Beijing.
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Duterte also wants to stop joint patrols in the South China Sea, a key shipping route, saying, “I just want to patrol our territorial waters”. Duterte said that the tensions are so high that insurgents are willing to kill Americans. “They’ll get ransom and then kill you, even if you are a black or a white, as long as you’re an American”, he continued.
Duterte said that the existence of US troops in the island of Mindanao is causing the situation to get worse. “There are many (Americans) there”, the President said in a recent speech at Malacañang.
The head of the public affairs office of the AFP said Tuesday that if United States troops are pulled out of Mindanao, they can be relocated to Metro Manila or nearby provinces. He cited that as a foundation for the ongoing unrest in the region.
“In a display of gross lack of national dignity, the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] has allowed the US military to maintain an exclusive compound inside its main headquarters which is off-limits even to the top generals of the AFP”, it claimed. “Look at the bodies there…”
While Mr Duterte is unpredictable – one day calling China “generous” and the next threatening a “bloody” war if Beijing attacked – his behaviour has undermined United States efforts to rally nations from Japan to Vietnam to Australia to stand up to China’s military assertiveness. “We might as well give up”.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (C) wearing an air force jacket given to him as a gift, poses for photos with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana (4th R) and Military chief General Ricardo Visaya (3rd L) and air force personnel prior to the traditional meal dubbed “boodle fight” during the 250th Presidential Airlift Wing Command anniversary celebrations at Villamor air base in Manila on September 13, 2016.
“I don’t need jets, F-16 – that’s of no use to us”, Duterte said. “But certainly, we will follow an independent posture and independent foreign policy”. The reason is not that I do not like the Americans. (We are not cutting) military (alliances) as well. It has been there. “He must abrogate the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951, the Mutual Logistics Service Agreement (MLSA), the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the EDCA (the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement of 2014)”, the CPP said. “We will reorient our foreign policy”.
Like other security pronouncements, Duterte did not provide details, but his rejection for joint patrols apparently goes against such an arrangement announced in April by the USA and the Philippine defense chiefs.
Casilao said that the mere existence of the partial agreements “is contrary to the president’s declaration of an independent foreign policy”. “These are backgrounders for possible future action”.
It was also Lorenzana who described relations between the Philippines and the U.S. as “rock solid” following the uproar that greeted Duterte’s statement that was considered as “anti-American”.
“The Chinese want the South China Sea to become a Chinese strait, with control of the maritime space and the air space above it”, said Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra.
According to Bloomberg News, Duterte may be implementing new strategies to assert the country’s independence from the U.S. In July, he made a similar proclamation when he blamed the violence ensuing in Iraq on the US, as previously reported by the Asian Journal.
The Philippines will pursue “independent” foreign and military policies separate from USA interests in the region, the country’s president said, announcing that in order to avoid any confrontations with China he would halt joint Filipino navy patrols with the US.
DESPITE his assertive statements criticizing the United States and underscoring the country’s sovereignty, President Duterte on Tuesday said his administration was not about to cut ties with close allies of the Philippines.
Since stepping into office, Duterte has not been quiet or politically correct regarding his distaste for Washington.
A top Chinese diplomat has told the Philippines that relations between the two countries are at a “new turning point”.
The Philippines has had close ties with the USA for decades, most recently bolstering military cooperation through a 2014 pact.
He has also called him the latter.
All most Americans know about President Duterte is that he called President Obama a “son of a whore” – a term Duterte throws around a lot.
“Whatever the President’s objective is for doing it, it was a big thing for us”, she said.
“Well aren’t you surprised that the Philippines is now not going to traverse the territory that the arbitration has just found is in the Philippines EEZ [exclusive economic zone]?”
“I really skipped it.
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Who are you to lecture me?”
