Outreach to Duterte is troubling
Any U.S. foreign policy decision that fails to consider human rights is not only immoral but likely ineffective. We are a nation founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To ignore the suffering of others is to violate our nation’s bedrock principles. It is a betrayal of the founding fathers, and, worse, accepting humanrights violations as a cost of doing business tells the world that the United States pursues no purpose higher than its own temporary self-interest.
That’s why President Donald Trump’s recent outreach to President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines should appall and truly, deeply offend Americans who regard their country as the “last best hope of Earth.” In the name of a “war on drugs,” Duterte’s regime has killed more than 7,000 people using police hit squads to murder suspected drug dealers and users. And what does the Philippines’ leader say about this? “Hitler massacred 3 million Jews. Now, there are 3 million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them. If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have (me).”
Yet over the weekend, Trump invited this despot to visit Washington after having what he called a “very friendly conversation” with Duterte that touched on regional security in Southeast Asia. It apparently included no criticism of the death squads that have killed an average of 30 people each day. Last fall, Duterte called Trump after his election and later claimed the presidentelect had wished him success in his anti-drug campaign.
White House officials say the outreach is necessary as part of a broader pan-Asian effort to rally support against North Korea and that country’s developing nuclear capabilities. But while that might be an unfortunate necessity in regards to outreach to China — no slouch in the human-rights violations department itself — the Philippines is hardly a power broker on the world stage.
Trump’s ambition to find allies in the Pacific might be more convincing if he hadn’t torn up the Trans Pacific Partnership, the 12-nation trade agreement that might not have only given the U.S. greater economic clout in East Asia but could have helped bring greater pressure to bear on China. Collectively, the countries involved represented 40 percent of the world’s trade, but Trump found the deal “ridiculous” and not sufficiently tilted toward American interests for his liking. If anything, the U.S. withdrawal was a big win for China, which remains the dominant economic power in the region.
And did anyone mention that Trump has a personal stake in the Philippines, a 57-story office building in Manila that bears his name and from which he reportedly receives millions under a licensing agreement?
Maybe there are times when an argument can be made that the greater good is served by tolerating abuses to avoid a far greater catastrophe for humanity, but the Philippines just doesn’t meet that standard. Remember when Khizr Kahn, the father of a Muslim soldier killed in action in Iraq, offered Trump a copy of the U.S. Constitution so he might understand the concept of equal protection under the law? Better add the Declaration of Independence to the president’s must-read list so he might learn about the inalienable rights of men as well.