The State Department is “baffled” by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to announce a “separation” from the United States and is seeking clarification on that statement, which could undermine a decades-old alliance.
“We still hold that it is inexplicably at odds with the very close relationship that we have with the Filipino people as well as the government there on many different levels,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “We are going to be seeking an explanation of exactly what the president meant when he talked about ‘separation’ from the U.S. It’s not clear to us exactly what that means in all of its ramifications.”
Duterte announced the “separation” during a visit to China, which has taken aggressive steps toward regional hegemony in recent years. Many southeast Asian countries rely on the United States for security, in part to ward off the threat of domination by China, but Duterte’s administration is cultivating a closer relationship with the communist regime.
“I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world — China, Philippines and Russia,” Duterte said in Beijing, per Reuters. “It’s the only way.”
Kirby reiterated the U.S. commitment to provide the Philippines with security, and declined to speculate about possible repercussions for Duterte’s comments. “It isn’t just the United States who is baffled by this rhetoric,” he said. “We have heard from many of our friends and partners in the region who are likewise confused about where this is going, and, also, we believe, are trying to learn more on their own about what it portends.”
