Trump Lauds ‘Great Relationship’ With Duterte in Manila
13, 2017
MANILA — President Trump said on Monday that he had a "great relationship" with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, making little mention of human rights
at his first face-to-face meeting with an authoritarian leader accused of carrying out a campaign of extrajudicial killings in his nation’s war on drugs.
" Mr. Roque said on Monday. that President Trump specifically said he has always been a friend
of the Duterte administration, unlike the previous administrations of the United States,
"He stressed that he can be counted upon as a friend of the Duterte administration." Mr. Trump raised eyebrows in April by inviting Mr. Duterte to the White House during
what American officials called a "very friendly conversation" on the phone in which the president praised the Philippine leader’s efforts to rid his country of drugs.
He said that while "the other hotheads" would like confrontation, "the South China Sea is better left untouched."
"Nobody can afford to go to war," Mr. Duterte added, including Russia, China, Britain and the United States.
"This has been very successful." As journalists shouted questions about whether Mr. Trump
would press Mr. Duterte on human rights, the Philippine president quickly silenced them.