Duterte backtracks on Philippines’ ’separation’ with US

Philippines’ president announces severing of ties not in the best interest of his country after his return from China.

President Rodrigo Duterte has backtracked on his comments about the Philippines’ “separation” from the United States, saying severing of ties was not in the best interest of his country.

Following a meeting between Duterte and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday, the tough-talking president announced “separation from the United States, both in military but economics also”.

“America has lost it,” Duterte was quoted as saying in a transcript of his speech released by the Philippine Presidential Communications Office on Friday.

“I mean, I realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia.”

However, following his return from China on Friday, he announced that the statement meant Philippines’ foreign policy “need not dovetail” with that of the US.

“It’s not severance of ties. Severance is to cut diplomatic relations. I cannot do that. Why? It’s in the best interests of my country that I don’t do that,” Duterte said in his hometown of Davao.

Duterte’s visit to Beijing capped a series of recent declarations blasting the United States and President Barack Obama.

Duterte was quoted by the Manila-based website Rappler calling Americans “loud, sometimes rowdy. Their larynx is not adjusted to civility”.

In response, the White House said Duterte has made too many troubling statements recently that lend uncertainty over its ties with the US and are at odds with their alliance.

“We’ve seen too many troubling public statements from President Duterte over the last several months,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

“And the frequency of that rhetoric has added an element of unnecessary uncertainty into our relationship that doesn’t advance the interests of either country.”

Duterte has also repeated his denunciation of Obama on Thursday as a “son of a whore”.

Al Jazeera

Source: Agencies

* http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/10/duterte-backtracks-philippines-separation-161021162912041.html

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Philippine foreign minister says US remains ’closest friend’

• Manila wants to end ‘mindset of dependency and subservience’

• President Duterte had announced ‘separation’ from Washington in China

The US remains the “closest friend” of the Philippines but Manila wants to break away from a “mindset of dependency and subservience” and forge closer ties with other countries, the Philippine foreign minister said on Saturday.

The comments by foreign affairs secretary, Perfecto Yasay, came two days after President Rodrigo Duterte announced his “separation” from Washington, though he went on to strike a more conciliatory tone on Friday.

Yasay said in a Facebook posting that Duterte had “unmistakably” stated that severing ties with Washington was not in the nation’s interest.

However, he wrote that separation “implies breaking away from the debilitating mindset of dependency and subservience – economically and militarily – that have perpetuated our ‘little brown brother’ image to America, which has stunted our growth and advancement”.

He said Duterte had told President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders during a visit to Beijing that “if they are not willing to lend their support … the Filipinos will chart their destiny alone, despite great odds”.

Yasay’s posting is the latest sign of an administration once again scrambling to put out fires after Duterte’s stunning declarations, which if delivered upon could upset the geopolitical balance in a region where China and the US are vying aggressively for influence.

On Friday, Duterte’s economic managers were quick to clarify the Philippines was not cutting economic and trade ties with the US.

Prior to Duterte taking office in late June, China was a bitter rival of the Philippines, and Manila was one of Washington’s most dependable Asian allies.

Duterte’s efforts to engage China, months after a tribunal in the Hague ruled that Beijing did not have historic rights to the South China Sea in a case brought by the previous administration in Manila, marks a reversal in foreign policy since the 71-year-old former mayor took office on 30 June.

“It is not severance of ties. When you say severance of ties, you cut diplomatic relations. I cannot do that,” Duterte told reporters at a midnight news conference in his southern home city of Davao after he arrived from his four-day trip to Beijing.

Duterte’s abrupt pivot from Washington to Beijing is unlikely to be universally popular at home, however. On Tuesday, an opinion poll showed Filipinos still trust the US far more than China.

Reuters in Manila

* Saturday 22 October 2016 14.38 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/22/philippine-foreign-minister-us-perfecto-yasay-closest-friend

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