Obama’s Reaction to Duterte’s Statement | Jeera Rodriguez
In power politics, one fact that is always assumed in the international arena is that the United States of America is the most powerful country. And that their president is a force to be reckoned with among leaders. But just recently, President Duterte insulted President Obama calling him a “son of a bitch” during one of his rants last Monday. Immediately, there were reactions to his statement. But just how who reacted?
Obama himself had plans of meeting with Duterte during the ASEAN Meeting in Laos to discuss the latter’s campaign against drugs particularly the issue on human rights and extrajudicial killings. When Duterte was asked about this, he uttered the derogatory phrase which in a later statement from the Palace was meant for the journalist who asked the question, not Obama. Still, the damage has been done and although Obama has played it cool as well, his meeting with Duterte was cancelled and moved to a later date. Is this the start of a rocky relationship between two of the most close allies in Asia?
However, Obama has explained that he only told his team to ask their Philippine counterparts if this is the right time to conduct a meeting wherein only “constructive and productive conversations be held”? And apparently his team decided that now was not the time. Historically, the Philippines and the USA have been close allies since Spain ceded the Philippines to US and their were liberal reforms in education and the whole of society itself that conservative Spain failed to make. In modern times, the Philippines is USA’s starting point for their “Pivot to Asia” plan and the USA is Philippines’ main ally in our dispute against China. When things start to get rocky between them, who gets to lose more? Only time will tell and hopefully, it won’t be the Philippines.
References:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-may-cancel-meeting-with-philippine-president-rodrigo-duterte-1473090231 [accessed: Sept 12, 2016]
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/05/politics/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-barack-obama/ [accessed: Sept 10, 2016]
In power politics, one fact that is always assumed in the international arena is that the United States of America is the most powerful country. And that their president is a force to be reckoned with among leaders. But just recently, President Duterte insulted President Obama calling him a “son of a bitch” during one of his rants last Monday. Immediately, there were reactions to his statement. But just how who reacted?
Obama himself had plans of meeting with Duterte during the ASEAN Meeting in Laos to discuss the latter’s campaign against drugs particularly the issue on human rights and extrajudicial killings. When Duterte was asked about this, he uttered the derogatory phrase which in a later statement from the Palace was meant for the journalist who asked the question, not Obama. Still, the damage has been done and although Obama has played it cool as well, his meeting with Duterte was cancelled and moved to a later date. Is this the start of a rocky relationship between two of the most close allies in Asia?
However, Obama has explained that he only told his team to ask their Philippine counterparts if this is the right time to conduct a meeting wherein only “constructive and productive conversations be held”? And apparently his team decided that now was not the time. Historically, the Philippines and the USA have been close allies since Spain ceded the Philippines to US and their were liberal reforms in education and the whole of society itself that conservative Spain failed to make. In modern times, the Philippines is USA’s starting point for their “Pivot to Asia” plan and the USA is Philippines’ main ally in our dispute against China. When things start to get rocky between them, who gets to lose more? Only time will tell and hopefully, it won’t be the Philippines.
References:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-may-cancel-meeting-with-philippine-president-rodrigo-duterte-1473090231 [accessed: Sept 12, 2016]
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/05/politics/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-barack-obama/ [accessed: Sept 10, 2016]