Duterte bids U.S. goodbye with embrace of China and Russia
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, left, shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ahead of their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, today.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte address members of the Philippine community in Beijing Wednesday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Thursday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, left, poses with Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China, prior to a meeting at the Great Hall of the Peopleat the Great Hall of the People in Beijing today.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants to cut the cord with the U.S. and pivot to China and Russia, words that signal a deepening split with his country’s biggest military ally and prompted bafflement in Washington.
American officials said they would seek an explanation of Duterte’s pronouncement on Thursday during a state visit to Beijing, several weeks after he told President Barack Obama to “go to hell.” Since taking office in June, the brash 71-year-old leader has repeatedly questioned his nation’s links with the U.S. while touting the economic benefits of closer ties with China.
“I announce my separation from the U.S.,” Duterte said to a packed room of business leaders in the Chinese capital after meeting with President Xi Jinping. Duterte also said he might go to Russian President Vladimir Putin and tell him “there’s three of us against the world.”
The comments marked Duterte’s strongest yet in disparaging an alliance that has underpinned the U.S.’s Asia-Pacific strategy since World War II. Yet it remains to be seen whether he will follow through on the heated rhetoric with actions — such as jointly exploring for energy with Beijing in disputed waters or tearing up defense agreements that give the U.S. access to bases in the Philippines. The U.S. has strong ties with the Philippine defense establishment, and the nation’s citizens say they trust America more than China by a wide margin.
“Symbolically none of this good for the U.S., but in concrete terms the U.S. has thick skin,” said Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “If the Duterte government starts to restrict U.S. access to Philippine bases or something like that, then the U.S. will have a problem.”
State Department spokesman John Kirby described the U.S. as “baffled” by Duterte’s rhetoric. The U.S. will seek an explanation when Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, visits the Philippines this weekend on a previously scheduled trip, Kirby said.
Duterte’s comments are “inexplicably at odds with the very close relationship that we have with the Filipino people, as well as the government there, on many different levels, not just from a security perspective,” Kirby said. The U.S. remains committed to the two countries’ mutual defense treaty, he said.
While Duterte’s cabinet members often seek to tone down his remarks — a routine they followed again today — the president has kept repeating them. In his speech to the Chinese business leaders, Duterte said that the separation from the U.S. would be both military and economic, without elaborating. Duterte said he was mulling plans to require U.S. visitors to the Philippines to obtain a visa.
In a joint statement issued after Duterte’s speech, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the Philippine Cabinet would move strongly and swiftly toward regional economic integration.
“We will maintain relations with the West, but we desire stronger integration with our neighbors,” the statement said. Overseas investors, however, appear to have been unsettled by the mixed messages. The peso dropped to the weakest in seven years this month as $666 million fled from the nation’s local-currency stocks and bonds since Aug. 1.
Earlier in the day, China announced a resumption of bilateral talks on contested territory in the South China Sea, an issue that had previously pushed the Philippines closer to America. China’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin hailed a “new stage of maritime cooperation.”
“It’s a win-win for both,” said Kang Lin, deputy director of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, China’s only state-backed research institution dedicated to South China Sea research. “The Philippines can reap a commercial harvest from his trip, including much-needed infrastructure funding. And for China, it’s the temporary end of the South China Sea migraine that lasted for the past couple of years.”
Officials from both countries signed 13 pacts on areas including trade, investment and tourism. China agreed to extend $9 billion in credit to the Philippines, the Inquirer reported, including $6 billion in soft loans. China overtook the U.S. as the Philippines’s largest trading partner in 2006.
Duterte welcomed investment from China, telling the business forum: “I have separated from them, so I will be dependent on you for a long time.”
“If China can get the Philippines out of the orbit of the U.S., it will be a big victory for it even if the Philippines doesn’t necessarily align itself with China,” said Ramon Casiple, executive director at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform in Manila. “Duterte wants to get more benefits from all — that’s the card he’s playing and he’s playing it to the hilt.”
Before his meeting with Xi, Duterte told hundreds of Filipinos in Beijing that “it’s time to say goodbye” to the U.S.
“Foreign policy veers now” toward China, Duterte said on Wednesday night. “No more American interference. No more American exercises,” he told a cheering crowd. “I will not go to America anymore” for assistance, he said. “We will just be insulted there.”
The U.S. has expressed concern about Duterte’s policies. Philip Goldberg, the U.S. envoy in Manila, said Wednesday that the Philippines’s efforts to improve ties with China “shouldn’t be a zero-sum game.” Kirby at the State Department also said the U.S. welcomes better China-Philippines ties.
While Duterte and the Philippines weren’t mentioned in Wednesday night’s presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, U.S. relations with China and Russia came up repeatedly. Trump again said he would pressure American partners to pay more for American assistance, while Clinton said the alliances made both the U.S. and the world safer.
Even as Duterte warmed up to China, Beijing appeared eager to distance itself from his anti-U.S. rhetoric. A commentary run by the official Chinese news agency Xinhua on Thursday said the rekindling of ties between Manila and Beijing carried “no meaning” for the Philippine-U.S. alliance.
“The Chinese government never attempts to build up its ties with other countries on condition that these nations have to sacrifice their partnership with any third party,” it said.
Despite his remarks, Duterte still has yet to commit to anything that may permanently undermine the long-standing alliance between the U.S. and the Philippines. He hasn’t torn up any agreements, conceded that China has sovereignty in disputed waters or undermined the right of the U.S. to conduct military operations in the South China Sea.
“The ‘yet’ is a very big ‘yet,’” said Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra. “At a certain point, if Duterte wants to reap the economic benefits from his visit to China he will need to pay the piper. He will need to do what he is saying, otherwise he won’t get anything from China.”
78 responses to “Duterte bids U.S. goodbye with embrace of China and Russia”
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and where is Kerry and Obama on this ????
Mahalo!
President Obama. Let’s pull out our Military presence from the Philippines! US debt is nearing $20 trillion so we could save some money here. lol
Whatever money we save will go into saving O’s forthcoming O’GRUBERCARE STIMULUS?
Out trying to get Clinton into office at my expense. Can not wait for him to go. But he won’t he will be there pulling on Hillary’s jacket.
The Obama gift that keeps on giving. What a great foreign policy guy. Obama is a total loser just like Hillary.
Trying to calm down our allies due to Trump’s idiotic messages. And if Trump is elected, we would have another Duterte as President. Trump would cancel all security and trade agreements with everyone.
Duterte will eat Hillary alive.
It should be the other way around. Da guy’s dumb as hell. LOL.
Supot, incompetent, loser little boy in an adult world. Looking to two failing countries for support.
We bid you goodbye and good riddance.
cant fix crazy.
You write that as if the Philippines is a threat to the United States. That is a laughable premise. Duterte is a threat to his own people.
The Philippines are not, but it will become a haven for terrorist groups if Hillary follows Obama’s weak handling of the situation.
I forgot. Obama crated Abu Sayaf.
Duterte will be lucky if he isn’t assassinated by one of his own people. His own military will overthrow him if he goes too far, just as they have other dictators in the past that threatened the country. He better sleep with one eye open.
Nothing but the whining of a supot, incompetent, whiny little boy in an adult world. Lapdog to the Chinese, will do as they tell him to. He will not last long before the people dump this loser.
Sounds like agent orange except he is a lapdog to the Russians and Putin.
Goodbye dummy I mean Duterte….go to China…..out of the frying pan into the fire……the Chinese will eat you alive….
China’s got money! They rule over there. Mahalo to Obama.
Whether or not the Philippines will get any significant amount from them remains to be seen and at what cost….
That’s laughable. Remember the catastrophic earthquake that leveled Haiti a few years ago? It’s estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 Haitians lost their lives. China’s total pledge to help with humanitarian assistance? $1 Million. And they never even made good on their pledge. For the economic prowess of a growing superpower that has a tortured history of famine and natural disasters, I have NO regard for their humanity. NONE.
Puck him!
Hope he can speak the new native language of the Philippines; Mandarin.
The Filopino Donald Chump. Puck the two guys.
Best news of the day. Impose heavy restrictions on money leaving the United States and going back to the Philippines. Stop all immigration processes for incoming Filipinos to the United States. We keep saying that we need a military presence there…for what? We are not about to stop China’s incursion into the South China Seas, we are not about to engage in conventional war with either China or Russia…the Japanese are more than capable, along with South Korea, of responding to North Korean aggression. We do not need to be there. Duterte has done what many have tried to do: spark isolationist feelings in the US, during a time when the country needs to rethink where it spends its dollars.
We should definitely impose restrictions on money sent from U.S. to the Philippines. I wonder how the economy of the Philippines would fare without all the U.S. dollars being “sent home?”
and those LBC ‘balikbayan’ boxes.
How much of that money being sent back is undeclared income?
Probably quite a bit. A lady I once knew used to make Filipino treats, sell them and then send that cash “back home” to her daughter. All undeclared. The mother (born in Hawai‘i when it was a Territory) lives in poverty here, her daughter (never set foot in the U.S.) and grandkids are middle class in Cebu. Her situation is small beans, but I bet there are many more like her who do the same or even more.
“Duterte welcomed investment from China, telling the business forum: “I have separated from them, so I will be dependent on you for a long time.””
The Philippines greatest export products are…their countrymen, because other than territory there isn’t much to offer in terms of industry…pretty sure the Chinese heard that statement and cringed.
Pres Duterte just needs to tear up the mutual defense agreement. He can then do as he pleases with China and Russia and the U.S. would have no obligation to defend the Philippines. Completely up to him, but don’t keep disparaging the U.S. while holding us to a mutual defense agreement. Not going to have it both ways.
I don’t see China expanding it’s borders but on the high seas. This is gonna save the US Billions of dollars not having to stand by their side.
True. Millions of Illegals can’t be wrong. Who in their right mind isn’t going to cross that border for the bennies we offer? Mexico thanks Duterte.
exactly
Duterte is to Xi as Trump is to Putin.
Puppet, puppet.
The U.S. wouldn’t support his goal of becoming Emperor of the Philippines, China, given the run of the Country, will. Unlike Marcos, Duterte doesn’t have the support of the Military so he must look to outside influence to protect his rein. But will the people and the military support this? You can’t invite China in, change your mind, and ask them kindly to leave. Look at Hong Kong, China refuses to not only leave but also constantly imposes its will on the people there.
you forgot? Hong Kong belongs to China, GB colonized it way back when! lol, GB gave it back to it’s Treaty of 99 years.
I know he’s immensely popular in the Philippines due to his cleaning up of drug dealers but the Filipino people better be aware of what they wish for is China and Russia are going to be his allies.
I smell a military coup coming and the idiot will put to house arrest. It’s a third world country
Probably more like assassination as that how those who are in power deal with any opposition……
I’m with you on this scenario happening.
Spot on. Duterte is, in my opinion, a walking dead man already.
Next on Duterte’s agenda is to get rid of all the Roman Catholic churches like their brothers in China.
We help others, we send aid, and we send dollars all over the world in good will. Why are so many countries hating the good ol U-S of A? Is it the military? Is it our leaders? Are we always right? Are they always wrong?
GOOD BYE…
What do all you Filipino’s in Hawaii think about this leader of the Philippines. You all might have to move back to the PI.
Don’t forget there are many Filipino’s who served honorably in the US Armed Services, and still do currently.
They did so to protect their country. Send them all back thats not citizens
No, they are honorable. They are good people!
This is sad, he is throwing pearls to the swine.
Where will all the GI’s get their mail order brides from now?
Berry interesting. Waiting to see where he goes for aid in cleaning up his typhoon-ravaged country.
Good luck in dealing with him, China and Russia!
Now we don’t have to spend our money when they have a disaster. We can help the people of USA. This guy is a lunatic.
He’s just made a deal with the devil. Good times in the beginning, afterwards you’ll be a territory.
Good Riddance to Dutert and the Phillipines. We dont need them.
This guy is their Trump
Aaaiiisooos dat one.
Dis guy’s words is nothing but seekin sh *t.
Good riddance!
Another Obama administration FAILURE.
Next, it’s closing of strategic U.S. access to Philippine bases.
Duterte will allow the Chinese to continue their populating of the South China sea atoll with their navy.
Kerry is following in the footsteps of Hillary in his failure to secure the Philippines. Hillary – Mosul and Allepo/Syria.
Meanwhile, Obama is campaigning in Florida and encouraging early voting for residents for fear of a Trump victory.
Filipino’s will have to get use to drinking vodka instead of San Mig Light / Manila Beer.
yobo, what are you suggesting Obama should have done to an ALLY?
Still not clear why this is a failure of the Obama administration. The Filipino people elected him. What does Obama have to do with the election?
VERY GOOD! WASH OUR HANDS OF THAT GOD FORBIDDEN COUNTRY! NOW MAYBE HAWAIIAN AIR CAN MOVE THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER BACK TO THE US of A, so hard communicating with them people over there…..so frustrating when they speak poor english.
Bring US business back home! More jobs for us here in Hawaii…..CEO Mark of Hawaiian Air do the right thing!
Mark Donket only cares about the money in his pocket. The unions should have stoped him before he got started, Hawaiian Air is for Hawii jobs. Maybe he should be replace asap
Hey, it’s their country, not ours. Maybe Duterte would rather be a puppet to Beijing than a perceived slave to the U.S. Maybe he feels that being protected by China makes better sense than being protected by the U.S. Just look at the geographic map of where China and the Philippines are located. Scrap the bilateral military treaty if the Filipinos don’t want our military protection. Makes sense for all. Sounds a lot like our folks are having a bad case of sour grapes. But on the other hand, Hillary is going to age very rapidly if she is elected and she’ll wish she never ran with all these hotspots everywhere. Don’t think her health will hold out for a full term. Kaine better start warming up in the bullpen.
China’s new puppet… they and Russia will have a great time with him. Ukininam!!!!
Didnt take very long before the Philippines got another dictator.
This is actually a smart move by Duterte to align with China who has moved in as the world’s leading manufacturing giant. But aligning with Russia will be a mistake. Putin will eat him for lunch and spit out his bones before you can say Rumpelstiltskin.
You don’t know what you got till its gone. Philippines can only afford cheap China made products. Maybe now they will get an extra 10% off with bonus points.
Duterte was Mayor of Davao City on Mindanao and is known as a Mindanaoan, the home of a communist insurgency and a separatist movement. No wonder he is gravitating to China and Russia. I hope he cusses out the Chinese and Russian leaders. He will land in prison for years.
Makes a lot of sense.
Hope hombre Chump is listening.
I believe that Muslim extremist will proliferate.
On the bright side, it will be the communists against the Muslims in a battle for the Philipines now.
Obama has the worst foreign policy than any other president in history, he’s alienated us from the Philippines, Russia, China, and Israel and has turned more to radical Islamic countries and Hillary will follow in his footsteps of doing the same thing. talk about selling the U.S. down the drain in favor of Islamic terrorist countries, now we know Obama is Muslim because he hates America like Hillary, Donald Trump is the only one that can save this country and make America great again.
a new say to spell pupule…duterte
as wy hod
CIA was asleep and still in dark as to who Duterte is? Coup d’etat is a possibility. In the cloak and dagger world it may already be in the works, only not now, as it would seem too obvious, notwithstanding immediacy by other foreign powers to do him in? Blame game?