President Obama cancelled what would have been his first meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte, after Duterte made a “vulgar” insult towards Obama, the White House has said. “All forms of terrorism are evil”, Erdogan said, then mentioned the names of a Kurdish group with which the U.S. is allied in Syria but is regarded by Ankara as a terrorist organization.
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Obama arrived in Vientiane just before midnight on Monday, for the first visit by a sitting USA president to Laos, where he wants to begin to address the legacy of U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War.
Mr Obama said his team would now find out if “constructive, productive conversations” were possible.
Instead, Obama now plans to meet later on Tuesday with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, a meeting where the response to North Korea’s latest missile tests is expected to be on the agenda.
Since Duterte was elected, more than 1,900 people have died, including at least 700 in police operations that were part of the president’s hardline war on drugs.
On Monday, the Filipino leader called Mr Obama “a son of a whore” as he warned him not to raise questions about extrajudicial killings.
“You must be respectful”, Duterte said, referring to Obama. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Using the Tagalog phrase for “son of a bitch”, he said, “Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum”.
His trip to Laos will mark the first time a USA president has visited the country. As a matter of fact, America has one too many to answer for.
“Who is he? I am the president of a sovereign state and we have long ceased to be a colony”, Duterte said.
Obama’s next stop was another one-party communist country with a dismal rights record: Laos, where mysterious disappearances have fueled concerns about a government crackdown. Instead, he worked to reassure the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally the US would help bring to justice whoever was responsible for plotting the coup.
He also lambasted who are critical of his war on drugs and labeled them as “lapdogs” of President Obama. On opposing sides of many global issues, the USA and Russian Federation are nonetheless trying to broker a deal to address the Syrian civil war and perhaps even partner militarily there.
Mr Duterte, however, warned the USA president not to challenge him on the issue. “But typically the tone of our meetings is candid, blunt, businesslike”.
Under Aquino, the Philippines had forged closer military ties with the United States to deal with the China threat.
The Philippines leader is notorious for his inflammatory comments. “Until the [last] drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue”, he said.
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He joked about the rape of an Australian missionary during the presidential campaign.
