Back from a five-day working visit to Brunei and China, President Rodrigo Duterte ended speculations his administration was severing diplomatic ties with the United States, saying an estimated 4 million Filipinos living in the US would “kill me” if he did that.
“I meant separation of foreign policy (with US),” Duterte told reporters upon arrival at Davao International Airport just before midnight Friday, ending a long day of anxious second-guessing both by Philippine and US officials on what he actually meant in remarks made at a Beijing business forum Thursday.
President Duterte clarified he has no intention at all to cut ties with the US. “It is not severance of ties. I cannot do that,” he said. “It is best that we maintain our relationships because there are many Filipinos living in the US.”
He, however, indicated that under his leadership, the Philippine government will no longer abide by the practice of previous administrations of automatically taking the cue from US foreign policy.
“It is not severing diplomatic ties, the Filipinos in the US will kill me,” he said.
Instead, Duterte, said his administration is looking at strengthening alliances with other countries.
“What is important is we should agree to work together (with other countries). It could be an economic alliance separate from US foreign policy,” he added.
Image credits: AP
1 comment
President Digong is the chief diplomat, indeed. Everybody was guessing what he exactly meant by his used of the simple word “separation”. Mga ugok kamo.