Obama, Duterte meet despite Filipino leader's crude language

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Obama, Duterte meet despite Filipino leader's crude language

By JIM GOMEZ

 

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — President Barack Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met informally on Wednesday in a holding room before attending a gala dinner at a regional summit, Philippine officials said.

 

The brief meeting took a little sting out of the soured relations caused by Duterte's intemperate language in referring to Obama earlier this week. That had caused Obama to cancel a formal meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

 

There was no immediate confirmation from the White House.

 

Philippine Foreign Secretary Pefecto Yasay told The Associated Press that the leaders had met.

 

"They met at the holding room and they were the last persons to leave the holding room. I can't say how long they met. It all springs from the fact the relationship between the Philippines and the United States is firm, very strong. The basis for this relationship is historical and both leaders realize this. And I'm very happy that it happened."

 

Obama and Duterte are in the Laotian capital along with other regional leaders for the summit. All of them made their way through the holding room before heading to the banquet hall.

 

On Monday, hours before arriving in Laos, Duterte told Philippine reporters he wouldn't accept questions from Obama about extrajudicial killings that have occurred during his crackdown on suspected drug dealers and users. More than 2,000 people have been killed in the crackdown since he took office on June 30.

 

"I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum," Duterte said, using the Tagalog phrase for "son of a bitch."

 

On Tuesday, Duterte expressed regret over the remarks, but the damage was done.

 

A Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Charles Joe, also said Obama and Duterte met in the holding room. He said it was a mutually agreed meeting, but that he had no details of what was discussed.

 

Obama and Duterte entered the dinner venue separately, and were seated far apart and did not interact with each other during the dinner that lasted an hour and 20 minutes.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-09-08

[keemapoot]

I'm sure "Duterte Harry" holstered his 44 magnum mouth for that meeting and most likely ate a little humble pie. Likewise, I'm sure Obama did not rub it in as there is too much serious business to do between these nations.  However, privately, I'm sure Obama thinks he's a third-world peanut gallery dick, and Dirty Harry thinks everybody is a dick.

Edited September 7, 2016 by keemapoot

[happy Joe]

It's easy to criticize and mock Dutertre.

 

We must also recognize that on this occasion he achieved its purpose:
"Silencing the usual litany of human rights leagues to protect the f...g drug mafia that plague his country"

Now he can snipe these rotten without undergoing the usual disapproval. UN, US, the Catholic church ...

 

These champions of stagnation politically correct now know they will be "son of a bitch" in Manila.

 

Certainly the process was not elegant but it will not change the man.

Edited September 7, 2016 by happy Joe

[ezzra]

 

Mugabe, Duterte and others are voicing the world opinions, and they really think  of the weakling Obama, as they can, and not bound by the PC crowed.....

[smotherb]

2 hours ago, keemapoot said:

I'm sure "Duterte Harry" holstered his 44 magnum mouth for that meeting and most likely ate a little humble pie. Likewise, I'm sure Obama did not rub it in as there is too much serious business to do between these nations.  However, privately, I'm sure Obama thinks he's a third-world peanut gallery dick, and Dirty Harry thinks everybody is a dick.

Obama, obviously, the better man.

[williamgeorgeallen]

wonder what would happen if the yanks just pulled all their military out of the Philippines like they were told to do in 1992. Americans should start charging for the military support they give the Philippines. send a bill trump.

[Navalator]

Obama's behavior in the "holding room" is further indiction of his elevated sense of class and diplomacy.  He is a true gentleman and scholar and has set the presidential standard high.  He is going to be a tough act to follow but I am sure that Hillary will meet the standard.

[williamgeorgeallen]

27 minutes ago, Navalator said:

Obama's behavior in the "holding room" is further indiction of his elevated sense of class and diplomacy.  He is a true gentleman and scholar and has set the presidential standard high.  He is going to be a tough act to follow but I am sure that Hillary will meet the standard.

but will she be able to behave herself with the interns?

[chilli42]

3 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

wonder what would happen if the yanks just pulled all their military out of the Philippines like they were told to do in 1992. Americans should start charging for the military support they give the Philippines. send a bill trump.

 

USA should build a wall and make them pay for it.  Job done!

[Publicus]

 

This is a critical moment in Philippine-USA relations so it is definitely in the mutual interest for the two presidents to patch it up.

 

CCP have moved ships to Scarborough Shoal in the Phils EEZ off Manila in the South China Sea. Barges, coast guard ships, troop ships (and no doubt submarines).

 

Everyone anyway has been waiting for this once the G-20 in China concluded and the Asean et al forums ended today, the 8th. The region has been holding its breath because it's been widely forecast to occur at this time. 

 

Pres. Obama said again to Xi Jinping at the G-20 not to move to build on Scarborough Shoal, that if CCP did make its long anticipated move, there would be "consequences" and "actions" taken in response.

 

Duterte can't allow CCP to build artificial islands on Scarborough or people in the Phils will run him out on this alone. Scarborough is 120 miles off Luzon and 185 miles from Manila. Spratlys and Paracels are nowhere near the proximity of Manila. The Phils Congress would impeach Duterte and remove him, flat out no hesitation or delay.

 

Fishermen had been looking to Duterte to get CCP to allow them back to the Shoal to resume fishing but Beijing said no to Duterte last week. Then these ships moved in. Duterte is fuming because of it. Looks bad to his people. 

 

Duterte and Obama need one another now. As in n-o-w.

Edited September 8, 2016 by Publicus
Revision

[sgtsabai]

Duterte ran his mouth off and had to take it back. He told the Chinese there would be blood if they moved on Scarborough Shoal. He is going to have to back his big mouth now because the Chinese did just that. Yes, there will be blood and most of it will be American and Chinese. Make the Chinese screw up with the slightest aggression and blow them out of the water and the sky. Obama should have been more aggressive from the git-go. China not only has to be stopped dead in the water, but rolled back to China. This is a case of waiting far too long. The Chinese are not bluffing, they are going to build on Scarborough unless stopped and they don't think anybody will. They just may be wrong. The US has been focused in the wrong direction since that idiotic regime of Cheney/Bush et all who belong in GitMo. Obama says if the Chinese move to build on Scarborough there will be "consequences and actions". What exactly does that mean, meaningless sanctions, a "shame on you", or action?The Chinese perceive the US as weak, rightly so,  and purposely insulted the President of the US. Maybe, just maybe Obama learned something. The bully should have been taken on long ago, it has just emboldened China. Tick tock, tick tock.

Edited September 8, 2016 by sgtsabai

[212Roger]

13 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

wonder what would happen if the yanks just pulled all their military out of the Philippines like they were told to do in 1992. Americans should start charging for the military support they give the Philippines. send a bill trump.

Too late; a lot of Filipinos are here in California.

[williamgeorgeallen]

6 hours ago, 212Roger said:

Too late; a lot of Filipinos are here in California.

loads of them in new zealand as well. the make good immigrants. speak english, work hard and integrate fairly well.

[slipperylobster]

7 hours ago, 212Roger said:

Too late; a lot of Filipinos are here in California.

 

My first wife (filipina) and I lived very close to "Manila Mesa"...  "Mira Mesa.

 

[Scott]

Off-topic posts and replies removed.  

[Publicus]

11 hours ago, sgtsabai said:

Duterte ran his mouth off and had to take it back. He told the Chinese there would be blood if they moved on Scarborough Shoal. He is going to have to back his big mouth now because the Chinese did just that. Yes, there will be blood and most of it will be American and Chinese. Make the Chinese screw up with the slightest aggression and blow them out of the water and the sky. Obama should have been more aggressive from the git-go. China not only has to be stopped dead in the water, but rolled back to China. This is a case of waiting far too long. The Chinese are not bluffing, they are going to build on Scarborough unless stopped and they don't think anybody will. They just may be wrong. The US has been focused in the wrong direction since that idiotic regime of Cheney/Bush et all who belong in GitMo. Obama says if the Chinese move to build on Scarborough there will be "consequences and actions". What exactly does that mean, meaningless sanctions, a "shame on you", or action?The Chinese perceive the US as weak, rightly so,  and purposely insulted the President of the US. Maybe, just maybe Obama learned something. The bully should have been taken on long ago, it has just emboldened China. Tick tock, tick tock.

 

CCP Dictators in Beijing have been pushed back to the point they have decided to show that opposing China in the 21st century is futile.

 

They'd already gone to work on it by their reaction to the Philippines filing against 'em and getting a complete win at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. CCP rejected the PCA ruling in the absolute and denounced the PCA, by which CCP spurned the UN Convention (Treaty) on the Law of the Sea, the International Law of the Sea.

 

In the South China Sea they've seized islands and built new ones in places that CCP are in sovereign dispute against. In 2012, after a standoff against the Phils at Scarborough Shoal, CCP reneged on a US brokered deal by taking possession of the Shoal. In the East Sea, CCP had been menacing the Senkaku Islands of Japan since 2009 and, after a lull of the past three years. they're at it again this year there too.

 

Disputes and struggles remain and they continue, as the US Navy in particular has asserted its presence in the SCS as it had done with Japan in the East Sea and the Senkakus. 

 

President Obama has more than once told Xi Jinping Scarborough Shoal is absolutely off limits, as are the Senkakus absolutely off limits. It however looks increasingly like CCP has decided to take possession of both to assert that opposing them is in fact futile.

 

If so, then this is the test. Asean is divided. In Malcom Turnbull Australia has the weakest foreign policy prime minister since the Ho Chi Minh fan Geoff Whitlam. The Phils new president Duterte is now trying to figure out whether he's coming or going. Beijing figures the US is occupied by the Potus election.

 

Thing is, US Navy personnel vote in an instant by remote ballot while at their stations and Japan is at the ready. Nobody foresees a war here but of necessity some incidents or even a few limited naval-air battles may ensue, to include submarines.

 

If so, no one should be surprised.