‘Separation’ talk perplexes U.S. officials as Philippines court China, Russia

[Geee]

Washington Times:

Relations between two longtime allies hit a new low Thursday as American officials scrambled to react to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement in Beijing that he was pursuing a “separation” from the United States and moving closer to China and Russia, asserting that Mr. Duterte’s remarks were “inexplicably at odds” with the close alliance between Washington and Manila.

 

It was just the latest provocative declaration from the outspoken new Philippine leader, at a time when the Obama administration has been trying to rally countries in the region to stand up to a major Chinese push for control of the South China Sea.

 

U.S. officials appeared divided on the impact of Mr. Duterte’s remarks, which he made during a high-profile visit to China. One official suggested that the move may be positive, but another said Mr. Duterte’s stance contradicted his own government’s efforts to build stronger diplomatic and security ties with Washington. But the confusion was evident.

[Valin]

More Here...

Duterte Breaks Up with Washington

[Valin]

Philippine tilt towards China is latest fruit of Obama’s foreign policy
Paul Mirengoff
October 22, 2016

It hasn’t gotten much attention, but the embrace of China by the Philippines, and its renunciation of the United States, is the latest in the long, sorry series of major foreign policy setbacks we have suffered under President Obama. In a state visit to China, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte announced his country’s military and economic “separation” from the United States. He stated:

America has lost now. I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow. And 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.

(Emphasis added)

 

On his return to Manila, Duterte explained that by “separation,” he doesn’t mean cutting off diplomatic relations with the U.S. or reneging on treaty obligations. “The people of my country are not not ready to accept” going that far, he observed. “What I was really saying was separation of a foreign policy.”

 

Thus, according to a government statement, Duterte’s China speech was “an assertion that we are an independent and sovereign nation, now finding common ground with friendly neighbors with shared aspirations in the spirit of mutual respect, support and cooperation.” China, of course, is the main “friendly neighbor” with whom the Philippine government is “finding common ground.”

 

(Snip)

[Draggingtree]

OUR PATHETIC FOREIGN POLICY – AT 12:52 P.M. ET: Barack Obama thankfully leaves office in less than three months. But he will leave behind the wreckage of American foreign policy. Walter Russell Mead, one of the best commentators writing today, describes the reality in The American Interest:

 

Hillary Clinton has swept her debate series with Donald Trump, and voters seem to like Trump less the harder they look at him. But as Clinton surely understands, even as she approaches the White House, the global scene is getting darker.

 

This morning, we saw a glimpse of that world, as one of America’s longest-standing allies in Asia turned its back on the United States and embraced China:

 

In a state visit aimed at cozying up to Beijing as he pushes away from Washington, the Philippine President announced his military and economic “separation” from the United States.

 

“America has lost now. I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow,” he told business leaders in Beijing on Thursday. “And 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.”

http://www.urgentagenda.com/PERMALINKS%20IX/OCTOBER%202016/22.FOREIGN.HTML

[Draggingtree]

Dump Duterte—for Starters

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By: Pat Buchanan | October 25, 2016

 

Alliances are transmission belts of war.

 

So our Founding Fathers taught and the 20th century proved.

 

When Britain, allied to France, declared war on Germany in 1914, America sat out, until our own ships were being sunk in 1917.

 

When Britain, allied to France, declared war on Germany, Sept. 3, 1939, we stayed out until Hitler declared war on us, Dec. 11, 1941.

 

As the other Western powers bled and bankrupted themselves, we emerged relatively unscathed as the world's No. 1 power. The Brits and French lost their empires, and much else, and ceased to be great powers.

 

Stalin's annexation of Central Europe and acquisition of an atom bomb, and Mao's triumph in China in 1949, caused us to form alliances from Europe to Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia.

 

Yet, with the end of the Cold War, we did not dissolve a single alliance. NATO was expanded to embrace all the nations of the former Warsaw Pact and three former republics of the USSR.

https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/dump-duterte-for-starters/