The White House said it would not reschedule a canceled bilateral meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte after he called President Obama a “son of a bitch” then said he regretted the remark.
“I would not expect a formal bilateral meeting,” White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters during a briefing Tuesday in Laos.
“I would believe he would have an opportunity” to speak with Duterte during the remainder of the ASEAN summit, as well as at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, as “he interacts with all the leaders at those events,” Rhodes added.
“We’re not saying that we will never speak to the president of the Philippines again,” Rhodes said. But he said after Duterte’s remarks, a meeting wouldn’t be “constructive.”
The flap over Duterte’s comments, Rhodes assured, is not impacting the “close cooperation” between the U.S. and one of its closest allies in the Pacific Rim region when it comes to diplomatic and military channels.
“We have a very close partnership with the Philippines on maritime issues,” he said. “So that relationship in this very important space continues to be strong.”
When it comes to claims to the South China Sea and Manila’s battle in an international court over Beijing’s aggression there, Rhodes said the U.S. has strongly supported the Philippines position.
“We’re not picking a winner with regard to these claims,” he said. “What we don’t want to see is these claims resolved through coercion or force.”
Obama administration officials have previously taken exception to Duterte’s prior controversial remarks regarding U.S. officials, particularly when he called Secretary of State John Kerry “crazy” and made slurs against the U.S. ambassador.
“Each time we’ve seen comments like that we’ve expressed concerns,” he said.
When Duterte started directing similar remarks against Obama, U.S. officials decided that “those comments would prevent us from having a serious, productive discussions.”
