Again, the Philippine president later said he was only joking, but this week, Duterte said he would not meet with the United Nations secretary general at the ASEAN summit as he had “no time”.
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“When the president of the Philippines insulted our president, it was appropriate in a very low-key way to say: sorry, no meeting”, the Democratic presidential nominee told reporters after the incident, according to Reuters.
Duterte made the remark about Obama while explaining that he would not be lectured over extrajudicial killings in the war against drugs he has launched since taking over two months ago and which has killed about 2,400 people.
“You do not just throw that kind of allegations or statement without even coming here”, the President said in a press briefing late last August. “And as part of our new strategic partnership with ASEAN, we’ve agreed to key principles, including that ASEAN will remain central to peace, prosperity and progress in the Asia Pacific”, Obama said.
A Philippine department of foreign affairs spokesman, Charles Joe, also said Mr Obama and Mr Duterte met in the holding room.
VIENTIANE • US President Barack Obama highlighted the need to understand and prevent wars and their heavy toll on innocent civilians.
The brief meeting took a little sting out of the soured relations caused by Duterte’s intemperate language in referring to Obama earlier this week.
His outburst was prompted by United States assertions that Obama planned to raise the issue of Duterte’s war on crime that has claimed 3,000 lives in just over two months.
Obama is scheduled to address a news conference in Laos immediately after his meeting with Modi.
Obama became the first United States president to visit Laos when he arrived in the once-isolated country on Monday to attend two regional summits, half a century after America’s “secret war” left Laos with the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in history.
But the president also has staunch support at home for his hardline position on drugs.
“Given our history here, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to help Laos heal”, said Obama, who is the first sitting USA president to visit Laos.
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Duterte has had a troubled relationship with the United States, criticizing its inability to stop violence in the Middle East and Africa, and citing US police shootings of black Americans as a violation of human rights.
