‘We are not cutting US ties’

Duterte: Philippines just wants a more independent foreign policy.

DAVAO: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he was not severing ties with his country’s long-time ally the United States, but merely pursuing a more independent foreign policy by strengthening relations with China.

A day after he provoked fresh diplomatic alarm by announcing his “separation” from Washington, Duterte on Friday struck a more conciliatory tone as he arrived back in the Philippines after a four-day visit to Beijing.

“It is not severance of ties. When you say severance of ties, you cut diplomatic relations. I cannot do that,” the Philippine leader told reporters at a midnight news conference in his southern home city of Davao. “It’s in the best interest of my countrymen to maintain that relationship.”

On Thursday, Duterte had told Chinese and Philippine business people at a forum in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People that America had “lost now”, as he sought what he calls a new commercial alliance with China.

“I announce my separation from the United States,” he had said, adding that he would also seek closer ties with Russia.

Clarifying his comments on Friday, he said that what he meant was that Manila’s foreign policy need not always “dovetail” with Washington.

“As in separation, what I was really saying was separation of foreign policy,” he said. “In the past, and until I became president, we always follow the United States’ cue.”

The White House, which had responded to the “separation” speech by saying there had been “too many” troubling statements from Duterte recently, was quick to welcome the apparent shift in tone.

“Based on his extensive, colourful previous comments, there is greater clarity that we would like to get about the intent of president Duterte and his government,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing.

“But based on what you’ve read me that seems to be a change in tone that is more consistent with the seven-decade-long alliance between the United States and the Philippines.”

Earlier, officials in Manila were left scrambling to explain the latest comments from Duterte, whose broadsides against the United States have grown increasingly frequent.

“In terms of economic (ties), we are not stopping trade, investment with America,” Trade Minister Ramon Lopez told CNN Philippines.

Duterte’s spokesman, Ernesto Abella, said the president had been making a “restatement” of his bid to chart an independent foreign policy. — Reuters

As in separation, what I was really saying was separation of foreign policy. Rodrigo Duterte