An Army spokesman has described defense relations with the United States as “rock solid” a day after Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said U.S. troops should leave the south of his country.
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Abella also pointed to lasting resentment over the U.S military campaign in 1906 that led to the slaughter of hundreds of Muslims in the southern Philippines.
Duterte has had a tumultuous relationship with the USA since becoming president in June and openly criticized US security policies.
While criticizing USA policies, Duterte has taken steps to fix relations with China, which were strained under his predecessor over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Manila: The Philippines will respect the military accord signed between it and the United States in 2014 that allows Washington to use Manila bases and boost its presence in the Southeast Asian region, a minister said. “More critically, we are going to remain committed to our alliance commitments in the Philippines”.
The Philippine president says USA forces need to leave if they don’t want to die at the hands of Islamic militants.
Washington, however, said it had not received a formal request to remove USA military personnel.
Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Ricardo Visaya said that at least 200 US Special Forces were left in Zamboanga to provide logistics and technical support to American troops who are in the country at any given time.
The US nominally ended the military operation in the southern Philippines in 2015, but still keeps some troops there. “Even if you’re a black or white American as long as you are an American, (they will kill you)”, he added. An outlandish request to remove the 1,300 US troops from Philippine soil may be the result of anger and frustration.
Obama went around shaking hands with all the leaders present at the final summit meeting in Vientiane, Laos, but avoided Duterte. The point is, I do not want to ride gung-ho style there with China or with America.
The two also subtly differed on how to proceed after a UN-backed worldwide tribunal in July outlawed most of China’s claims to the strategic South China Sea, including areas that overlap with those of the Philippines and other neighbors. Some of the photos, Duterte said, show American soldiers around a mass grave.
Mr Duterte did not specify when or how many Americans would be expelled but said the Philippines’ alignment with the West was at the root of the persistent Muslim insurgency.
The State Department characterized Duterte’s comments as “unhelpful”.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella described Duterte’s presentation as a “backgrounder” for Filipinos about the strife in Mindanao and to explain his independent foreign policy. I am the president of a sovereign state, and we have long ceased to be a colony.
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Duterte later walked back the comment, saying he looked forward to “ironing out differences” between the two countries.
