Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gave an interview to Chinese state media. Global Times In it, the erratic leader lambasted the United States as “hostile and hostile” and advised his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to take a more conciliatory stance toward China.
Duterte claimed that his goal after taking office in 2016 was to “develop an independent foreign policy” that was friendly to China but “not really against the United States.”
What Duterte actually did was vacillate between: violent threat against Beijing and vile growl, neither of which got him anywhere due to the tyranny of the aggressive Chinese Communist Party. In the coming weeks, President Duterte could go from threatening suicide bombing operations against Chinese troops to telling Filipinos that resisting China’s imperial ambitions is futile.
Duterte decided on his next policy before leaving office. story He said he really wanted to be a good friend of China, but the United States kept pushing him into conflict. He repeated this story with relentless performance. Global Times Friday interview:
I know that the previous administration was always favorable to the American people on all fronts. No matter what happens, no matter what the issues are in Southeast Asia or the world, and for that matter, China here in Asia, especially when President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, to encourage us to come together as good neighbors. Looks like they’re doing everything possible. Roads Initiative (BRI). It was really aimed at revitalizing relations between Asian countries.
But from a foreign policy perspective, America seems very hostile. So if you stick to America and identify yourself with America, everything gets blurry when it comes to relations with China and other ASEAN countries.
Most of the ASEAN countries have very neutral and independent foreign policies. That would be what you wanted. If I had listened to my government advisors, I would not have been able to improve the relationship between the Philippines and China. That’s why I slowly distanced myself and declared to China, at least in foreign policy, that we are not the enemy, we have never been the enemy, and we will not be the enemy.
President Duterte’s friends in Beijing have used increasing levels of force over the past few months to drive Philippine Navy ships and fishing boats from islands that China does not legally claim.
in the Philippines in March stayed It is the strongest protest yet against China, which blew up a Philippine Navy supply ship with a water cannon, injuring several crew members. Due to the intensification of China’s invasion of the Philippines, large-scale protests It sparked a trilateral security summit between the Philippines, the United States and Japan in Manila this week, which infuriated Beijing. condemned.
President Duterte made no mention of this in his speech. Global Times In the interview, he claimed that the only problem in the area Filipinos call the West Philippine Sea is American malice.
“I have to reiterate that I have no conflict with America. I just don’t like their actions, because their actions used to be imperialist. After Spain. They also occupied my country. And even if you say it was good for the Philippines that they came to the Philippines and educated us, that is nonsense,” he said.
“Here in the West Philippine Sea, there was no conflict when I was president. We can get back to normal. I hope we can stop the unrest over there, because the Americans “is pushing the Philippine government to go out there and find quarrels and eventually start a war,” he said.None of that is true because China’s invasion of Philippine territory traces back to China Lose A serious incident occurred in The Hague in 2016.
President Duterte hastened to emphasize to a Chinese interviewer that he fully supports Beijing’s claims regarding Taiwan and that there is no reason for the Philippines to become involved in a conflict if China decides to invade Taiwan. . He also talked about how much he values a “strong trade relationship” between the Philippines and China, while claiming that the Philippines does not have a “really good trade relationship with the United States.”
“perhaps [the Americans] “They’re nice, I don’t want to know because I’m not interested,” he said.
If Mr. Duterte cares enough to educate himself, he will realize that the bilateral trade relationship between the United States and the Philippines is unfair. value At more than $30 billion annually, the United States is one of the largest contributors to the Philippines’ economic aid and disaster relief programs, and the Peace Corps has been operating there for more than half a century.The United States is the largest export market for Philippine products, while China is its largest trading partner. whole.
President Duterte managed to complain that the US is not doing enough to protect the Philippines in the same tone he uses to complain that the US has too many military bases in the Philippines.
The United States has instructed the Philippine government, “Don’t be afraid, we will back you up.” But I don’t think America will die for us. Nevertheless, America currently has a significant number of bases in the Philippines. When America wanted to build a military base in the Philippines, I opposed it. And with the consent of the President of the Republic of the Philippines, we have so many bases.
President Duterte described the current state of Philippine-China relations as “very sad” under his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who “took a tougher stance on the South China Sea issue.” Global Times put it.
“During my term, China allowed fishing.” [by Philippine fishermen] And no one disturbed them,” Duterte said wistfully.
Oh, this is not true at all – China bullied and harassed Filipino fishermen repetition During Mr. Duterte’s term in office, Mr. Duterte’s office filed a diplomatic complaint against China for such actions.
of Global Times Understandably, instead of reminding Duterte of what happened during his presidency, Duterte chose to flatter Duterte’s delusions and praise him as a friend of China, noting that the Marcos regime was collaborating with the US and Japan. I asked for some more quotes about how stupid it is to team up. against the growing threat from China.
Duterte was happy to oblige.
“We have a bilateral relationship with the United States, but if our foreign policy is crooked, favoring one country or sometimes even hostile to be with the United States, then everything is wrong. That’s the problem,” he said.
“In principle, the conflict is happening because the United States is saying to everyone, ‘Okay, fight. Don’t worry, we’re here.’ It’s adversarial and adversarial.” he declared.
President Duterte said: Global Times It was a futile effort for the Chinese Communist Party government to meet with Mr. Marcos. “It’s up to Americans to tell Mr. Marcos what to say.”
“We have no conflict with China. We know that if it happens, it will be because of the Americans. Our government has acknowledged it, so we will You have to accept that. But we’ll always be friends, I guarantee you,” he exclaimed.
Duterte held a news conference on the same day he gave this drool-filled interview to Chinese state media. Press conference In it, he said Manila withdrew its legal and internationally recognized claims in the South China Sea because Chinese dictator Xi Jinping had threatened to “go to war” with the Philippines.
