Duterte meets ‘idol’ Putin of Russia, invites China’s Xi to PHL
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Saturday noon, Nov. 19 (past midnight of Nov. 20 in Manila), kicked off his participation at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Lima, Peru, by holding bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Mr. Duterte described as “my idol” and “favorite hero” in a recent Al Jazeera interview.
The meetings took place amid Mr. Duterte’s avowed pursuit of an independent foreign policy pivoting away from longtime ally the United States.
In lieu of the United States, Mr. Duterte, a student of Jose Maria Sison during the Cold War era, has time and again referred to Russia and China, remarking of late that he would be the first to join a “new order” by the two global powers.
Saturday’s appointment was the first encounter between Messrs. Duterte and Putin, who was already in their meeting room at the Swissôtel in the Peruvian capital when his Filipino counterpart arrived, as shown in a video posted by Presidential Communications ( Government of the Philippines) on its Facebook page.
Walking past behind Mr. Putin’s delegation, Mr. Duterte shook hands with the Russian leader who, in turn, shook hands with each of Mr. Duterte’s delegation, including his aide or special assistant Christopher “Bong” Go.
During the meeting, Mr. Duterte “expressed his pleasure [ in] meeting President Putin and his respect for the latter’s leadership,” as the Presidential Communications Office said in a prompt statement.
Mr. Putin, in turn, said it was “my pleasure to meet you.” Then he congratulated Mr. Duterte on his election victory this year, noting that May 9, Election Day in the Philippines this year, “is one of the most important holidays in Russia – Victory Day, a holiday that commemorates the victory over Nazism in the Great Patriotic War.”
“And it is a victory day for you too, so I would like to congratulate you personally once again,” the Russian leader added.
Mr. Putin also told Mr. Duterte: “This year we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between our countries.” He noted further, “From the historical viewpoint, this is a very short period, but we have managed to achieve a great deal to develop a comprehensive partnership and build up trust between our countries..”
For his part, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay, Jr. said in another statement by Malacañang: “[ W]e acknowledge that in the past somehow even as we are celebrating long years of diplomatic relationship with Russia, our relationship has not really matured especially in the area of trade and investments and commercial relationships.”
‘WESTERN HYPOCRISY’
Mr. Duterte in that meeting said to Mr. Putin: “I have been looking for this moment to meet you Mr. President, not only because you represent a great country but [also because] of your leadership too.”
Soon after the formalities, Mr. Duterte was railing at Western “bullying” and “hypocrisy” before Mr. Putin, in remarks that were neither in Malacañang’s statements nor in the edited video on Facebook, but were transcribed by the Palace and also by the Kremlin, as posted on its Web site ( http://en.kremlin.ru/events/ president/transcripts/53275).
“It was good until it lasted,” Mr. Duterte said about his “separation” from the United States.
“Of late, I see a lot of these Western nations bullying small nations. And not only that, they are into so much hypocrisy,” he also said in his meeting with Mr. Putin that lasted 45 minutes.
“And they seem to start a war but are afraid to go to war. That is what is wrong with America and the others. They’ve been waging wars in so many places — in Vietnam, in Afghanistan and in Iraq, for one single reason that there was a weapon of mass destruction, and there was none.”
Mr. Duterte also said the United States “forced” the Philippines to contribute soldiers in its wars in Vietnam and Iraq.
“They insist if you are allied with them that they follow you. They go to the Korean War, nothing happened. They got defeated,” he said.
When Manila pulled out noncombat troops that were part of the US-led coalition against Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2004 following threats to behead a kidnapped Filipino worker there, truck driver Angelo dela Cruz, Washington “made it hard for us,” Mr. Duterte told Mr. Putin.