Asia Nations: Duterte and Security Perspective

asia nations: Your honors, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States … both in military and economics also, Duterte said, according to The Japan Times. His remarks were met with applause, but Duterte was not more specific. The rapprochement between the two Asia nations could widen a political rift between the United States and the Philippines, whose recently elected leader has made no secret of its antipathy for America and ordered an end to joint maneuvers between their militaries. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Duterte remarks were inexplicably at odds with the very close relationship we have with the Filipino people as well as the government there on many different levels, not just from a security perspective. Both sides agreed that the South China Sea issue is not the sum total of the bilateral relationship, Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told reporters. Following talks in Beijing between Duterte and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, a senior Chinese diplomat announced the sides had agreed to restore the full range of contacts, although he said the leaders touched only briefly on the South China Sea. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.