On Tuesday, Oct 4, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told President Obama to “go to hell” for questioning his controversial drug-fighting tactics in a speech in Manila. He made his comments on the same day that the U.S. and the Philippines started their annual joint combat exercises, which will be the last according to a statement Duterte made in the same speech.
In a speech at a Makati city synagogue in Manila, Duterte warned that he may "break up with America" and turn instead to China or Russia. This is strange to me because Philippine and China are having conflicts, as we discussed on Thursday's class.
Duterte continued to compare himself to Hitler, threatened to kill millions of addicts in an intense war on drugs. These happened to be not just threats, as he had killed 3,000 people ever since taking office in June this year. World leaders, human rights groups, and the United Nations are criticizing his efforts.
Claude Rakistis, a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service specializing in Pacific Studies and a South Asia Center Fellow at the Atlantic Council, believes Duterte calls Obama names to protect his image in the Philippines. "He wanted to appear tough," and Rakistis believes the President's actions may cause tensions in the international community. This is not the first time he had said something this controversial; he already called President Obama "son of a b---" in September, leading President Obama to cancel what was going to be a first meeting with him. The reason was Duerte was pressed on human rights violations. His platform has been based on anti-crime, but the Filipinos are concerned whether this is the way to go.
Today, the US has an alliance with the country that has spanned the past 65 years. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook emphasize the importance of keeping this friendship, and expressed that the US would like to continue working with the Philippine military on a range of fronts.
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