China had slighted Obama after there was no staircase awaiting him on the tarmac, forcing the US President to deplane through a set of internal stairs he rarely uses.
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The Philippines has been a key USA ally for years and Washington hopes it will remain one, especially as a partner against China’s military expansion in the South China Sea.
The acid-tongued Duterte bristled at warnings he would face questioning by the United States president over a crime war in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2 400lives in just over two months.
Mr Obama had said he would raise the question of Mr Duterte’s ruthless war on drugs, which has led to a spate of police and vigilante killings.
The Philippines did not comment publicly on the cancellation until about nine hours later, when Duterte’s statement said that both sides had “mutually agreed to postpone” the meeting.
Duterte’s profanity was in response to the White House’s statements according to which Obama plans to intervene in the Philippines President’s policies regarding drug dealers and criminals. Duterte said, adding the Philippines had not received an apology from the U.S. for atrocities committed during its colonisation of the Philippines. “Why? Because they invaded this country and made us their subjugated people”. This, after Duterte warned Obama not to question him about extrajudicial killings in his country. “What is certainly true is that the issues of how we approach fighting crime and drug trafficking is a serious one for all of us, and we’ve got to do it the right way”. Look at the human rights of America along that line.
Obama added: “I always want to make sure that if I’m having a meeting, that it’s actually productive and we’re getting something done”. At a news conference, he said he had told his aides to speak with Philippine officials “to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations”.
The White House says the US has contributed $100 million to the effort in the last 20 years.
“An invaluable occasion to have our leaders meet for the goal of discussing how to strengthen our comprehensive areas of co-operation would have been a golden opportunity”, del Rosario said.
“There is such a thing called diplomacy, where one can not simply verbalize scathing top-of-the mind opinions, especially to the head of state of the most powerful country in the world”.
Last week, Duterte said he was ready to defend his bloody crackdown on illegal drugs, which has sparked concern from the USA and other countries.
Duterte insisted he would not take orders from the United States, a former colonial ruler of the Philippines, and did not care about how he was perceived.
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.
“(The) government is here to save our people from the drug menace and punish the offenders, including the big-time ones.
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Rights groups have raised concerns over the reported deaths of more than 2,400 people in the crackdown on illegal drugs in the Philippines.
