Duterte wants Philippines out of 'shackling' USA dependency
- by Erica Wilson
- in Local
- — Oct 11, 2016
The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, wants to release his country from a "shackling dependency" on the United states, the country's foreign affairs secretary, Perfecto Yasay says.
Still, Duterte has said he will not abrogate a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the USA and will maintain the long alliance with America, one of his country's largest trading partners and provider of development and military aid and defense equipment.
On Friday, GME News reported Lorenzana as saying that ties between the two countries were going through "bumps on the road" and the Philippine military could manage if the us were to withdraw aid.
"I think it's just going through these bumps in the road", he told a news conference on Friday.
The announcement comes after the Philippine leader said last week that US President should "go to hell" and has previously called Mr Obama a "son of a b****". "We should spread our side to others because there are still so many countries there", Lorenzana said.
"Are we getting what we should be getting from the alliance or the Americans as well", he said.
But while some Filipino officials have walked back on Duterte's sometimes crude anti-U.S. pronouncements - early this week he told President Barack Obama "to go to hell" - Lorenzana's comments show for the first time that the Duterte administration will act by rolling back cooperation with the US military. In July, an global tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines' claim to a portion of the sea and concluded China has no legal right over the bulk.
"The fundamentals of bilateral cooperation with the Philippines and our relationship with the Filipino people remain strong", said Ambassador Goldberg in his remarks, "Our history of cooperation spans 70 years, and our commitment to this country remains unchanged". The statement follows President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement telling the USA and the European Union to withdraw aid if they were unhappy with his war on drugs campaign.
In another defining aspect of his unorthodox rule, the 71-year-old Duterte has pushed back his country's 65-year treaty alliance with the United States while reaching out to China and Russian Federation.
Russia says it supports OPEC plan to limit oil production
And at that point, the Saudis might be willing to underwrite the cuts on their own because they really want these high prices. Moreover, the fact that further complicates the deal is that certain OPEC members demand to be treated as exceptions.
Duterte said it was not until he became President that he saw the "widespread" danger of illegal drugs.
His shift to China had caused to weaken the long-standing alliance between the U.S. and the Philippines.
The President mentioned how the Philippines suffered during the United States colonization in the Philippines.
"We have a problem here trying to preserve our society", the president, nicknamed "The Punisher", said.
"When (President Rodrigo Duterte) said there will be no more patrols, we already informed our counterparts that there are no more patrols in the meantime", he told reporters in Manila.
Duterte, who began his six-year term on June 30, quickly shredded Aquino's strategy on China, seeking co-operation and dialogue with Beijing while diluting the Philippines' alliance with the United States.
Lorenzana reiterated that the Philippines will not abrogate its treaty with the USA, saying that Duterte only wants to chart an foreign policy that is not dependent to one country.
But experts fear Mr Duterte's plans to limit U.S. military presence will foil Washington's intention to strengthen United States forces in Southeast Asia in order to counter China.
