Philippine president to open alliances with Russia, China

Duterte says country was at the ‘point of no return’ in its relations with US, its former colonial ruler

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday he would visit Russia and China this year to chart an independent foreign policy and “open alliances” with two powers with historic rivalries with the US.

Duterte said the Philippines was at the “point of no return” in its relations with former colonial ruler the US, so he wanted to strengthen ties with others, and picked two global powers with which Washington has been sparring with on the international political stage.

He last week declared he would soon - and often - visit China, with which ties remain frosty over a South China Sea arbitration ruling won by the Philippines in July.

He said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was expecting him in Moscow.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

An arbitration court in The The Philippines National Police (PNP) Director General Ronald Dela Rosa urged celebrities hooked on, or involved in selling, drugs to voluntarily surrender or risk being casualties in the government’s ongoing drive against illicit substances.

“It would be for the good of these personalities if they surrender because they have already been identified as users,” Dela Rosa said referring to a statement by President Rodrigo Duterte that identified 50 people in show business who are allegedly involved in drugs.

The police chief said the anti-drug campaign did not discriminate, whether the suspect was poor or wealthy and influential.

While initially the antidrugs campaign targeted the poor and impoverished addicts and drug peddlers, the drive has now shifted to the upper class offenders. Hague in July invalidated China’s claims to the waterway in a case brought by the Philippines, a ruling that Beijing refuses to recognise.

“I am ready to not really break [US] ties but we will open alliances with China and... Medvedev, he is awaiting there for my visit,” Duterte told reporters, adding he would open up the “other side of the ideological barrier”.

He welcomed investment and shrugged off rating agency Standard and Poor’s concerns last week about the Philippine economy on his watch and his unpredictability.

“Never mind about the ratings,” he said. “I will open up the Philippines for them to do business, alliances of trade and commerce.”

Peso falls

The peso fell to its lowest since 2009 yesterday and foreign investors have dumped local shares for six straight weeks, worried about Duterte’s anti-US rhetoric and brutal war on drugs, which has alarmed rights groups at home and abroad.

Duterte also said he would open up telecoms and airlines, which are two domestic sectors long controlled by local players and criticised for being uncompetitive. He did not elaborate. The volatile leader’s vitriol against the United States has become a near-daily occurrence and source of both amusement and concern. On Monday he accused Washington of “hypocrisy” and said Americans were still “lording it over us”.