Kerry confident U.S. and Philippines can
'work through' Duterte confusion
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[October 25, 2016]
By David Brunnstrom and Manuel Mogato
WASHINGTON/MANILA (Reuters) - U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry is confident after speaking to his
Philippine counterpart that the two countries can "work through" a
period of confusion caused by anti-American rhetoric from President
Rodrigo Duterte, the State Department said on Monday.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry expressed concern in
his conversation on Sunday with Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay about
the tone of remarks by the Philippine president, who has sharply
criticized President Barack Obama and talked of separation from
Washington.
At the same time, Kerry emphasized strong and stable ties between the
longtime allies, while Kirby said Washington had seen no practical
action by Manila to move away from those.
Kerry's conversation with Yasay came after Duterte provoked alarm last
week by announcing a "separation" from the United States and realignment
with China during a visit to Beijing.
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Although Duterte said later he did not really mean separation, his
remarks added to concerns about the future of a U.S.-Philippine military
cooperation pact seen as crucial to projecting U.S. power in Asia in the
face of fast-rising China.
Earlier on Monday, the most senior U.S. diplomat for Asia, Assistant
Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Russel, said in Manila that
Washington remained a "trusted" ally to the Philippines and supported
its blossoming ties with China.
Russel was the first high-level visitor from Washington since Duterte's
remarks and Kirby said that both Russel and Kerry made clear the United
States had every intention of continuing to meet its security
commitments to the Philippines.
"The tone and tenor of the discussions that they had ... and the
assurances that the Philippine side gave to their commitment to keeping
the relationship going was enough to lead the secretary and the
assistant secretary to believe that we were going to be able to work
through this," Kirby told a regular news briefing.
'REAL CLIMATE OF UNCERTAINTY'
In his comments to reporters, Russel said he had candidly told Yasay
that Manila's friends were concerned about the high loss of life in
Duterte's campaign against drugs and reiterated the importance of due
process.
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![](../images/102516pics/news_y41.jpg)
Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about Syria during a joint news
conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se after the
Central Asia Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, U.S.
October 19, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
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Russel said "a real climate of uncertainty about the Philippines'
intentions had created consternation in many countries," including
the United States. He said that worry extended beyond governments to
corporate boardrooms and warned that it was "bad for business" in "a
very competitive region."
Since Duterte took office on June 30, he has been scathing about
U.S. criticism of his anti-drug campaign, in which about 2,300
people have been killed. But his ministers have repeatedly sought to
soften his more outspoken remarks.
Explaining Duterte's "Goodbye America" remarks, Yasay said on
Saturday the United States remained the "closest friend" of the
Philippines but that Manila wanted to break away from a "mindset of
dependency and subservience" and forge closer ties with other
nations.
Russel said Duterte himself had "already walked back" his remarks
and added that Washington supported direct dialogue and negotiations
between the Philippines and China. "We don’t want countries to have
to choose between the U.S. and China," he said.
(Reporting by Manuel Mogato in Manila and David Brunnstrom in
Washington; Additional reporting by Enrico dela Cruz in Manila and
David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and
Peter Cooney)
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