Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte, yesterday left no room for doubt about where his allegiance lies as he commenced his State Visit to China, announcing what he calls his country’s military and economic separation from the United States.
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Rodrigo Duterte |
“America has lost now. I have realigned myself in your ideological flow,” he told the Chinese government officials at a business forum in Beijing.
“Maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way,” he added.
Relations between China and the Philippines had soured over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
But Duterte is taking a different tack, pushing that issue to the background as he tries to forge closer ties with China.
A political science professor at De La Salle University, Manila, Richard Javad Heydarian, said it looked like a great gamble.
“The usually brash and outspoken Duterte appeared much more statesmanlike in China than he has on previous trips overseas,” Heydarian said yesterday.
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