{"id":81154,"date":"2016-10-17T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=81154"},"modified":"2016-10-12T14:20:30","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T13:20:30","slug":"philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-orders-us-forces-out-of-country-cutting-65-years-of-military-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2016\/10\/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-orders-us-forces-out-of-country-cutting-65-years-of-military-ties\/","title":{"rendered":"Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte Orders US Forces Out of Country, Cutting 65 Years of Military Ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Do not treat us like a doormat because you\u2019ll be sorry for it. I will not speak with you. I can always go to China.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Rodrigo<\/a>

Rodrigo Duterte has ordered 28 annual military exercises with US forces to be halted. Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n

11 Oct 2016 – <\/em>The president of the Philippines<\/a> has promised to dismantle the nation\u2019s 65-year military alliance with the United States, warning Washington not to treat the nation \u201clike a doormat\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rodrigo Duterte<\/a> has ordered 28 annual military exercises with US\u00a0forces to be halted and\u00a0an ongoing US-Philippines amphibious beach landing exercise to be the last in his six-year presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year would be the last,\u201d\u00a0said Mr Duterte,\u00a0referring to military exercises involving the US in a speech on Friday in southern Davao city.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/a>

US military forces prepare for the annual Philippines-US live fire amphibious landing exercise north of Manila, Philippines (Reuters)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFor as long as I am there, do not treat us like a doormat because you\u2019ll be sorry for it. I will not speak with you. I can always go to China.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an attempt to draw back from what Mr Duterte views as too much dependence on the US, 107 American troops involved in operating surveillance drones against Islamic militants will be asked to leave the country once the Philippines acquires its own intelligence-gathering capabilities, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.<\/p>\n

Mr Lorenzana said he would ask the Philippines Congress for $50m (\u00a340.3m)\u00a0to $100m (\u00a380.7)\u00a0a year to compensate for US military aid, The Times<\/a><\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been allies since 1951,\u201d he said. \u201cAll we got are hand-me-downs, no new equipment. The Americans failed to beef up our capabilities to be at par with what is happening in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

The divide in military relations with the country\u2019s former colonial master comes as Mr Duterte lashed out against US criticism of his national crackdown on drug crime, which has left more than 3,600 suspects dead<\/a>\u00a0in just three months.<\/p>\n

In September, Mr Duterte launched a scathing attack on US President Barack Obama,\u00a0telling him to \u201cgo to hell\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0calling him a \u201cson of a bitch\u201d<\/a>\u00a0when it was suggested he would be questioned over the killings.<\/p>\n

Mr Lorenzana said affairs could recover if criticism of the drugs war subsided. \u201cRelationships sometimes go to this stage but over time it will be patched up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Duterte\u2019s strained relations with Washington do not appear to have spread to US allies such as Japan, which has committed to deliver patrol ships for the Philippine coast guard and signed a deal to lease five small surveillance planes to reinforce its territorial defence.<\/p>\n

Mr Duterte has also reached out to China and Russia. Mr Lorenzana said he would travel to Beijing and Moscow to discuss acquiring defence equipment from them.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the possibility that joint manoeuvres will be the last under Mr Duterte\u2019s presidency, US military spokesman for the drills, Major Roger Hollenbek, said: \u201cIf it\u2019s the last, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nothing to do with that and we are going to continue to work together, we’ve got a great relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Duterte was elected in May on the promise of preventing the Philippines from becoming a \u201cnarco-state\u201d and vowed to kill those involved in importing or selling illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

The scale of his crackdown has been unprecedented. A rough estimate puts the death toll around 3,600, including 1,300 suspects killed in gun battles with police \u2013\u00a0an average of 36 killings a day since he took office on 30 June,\u00a0which has drawn criticism from the US, the EU, the UN and human rights watchdogs.<\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Associated Press.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 independent.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Do not treat us like a doormat because you\u2019ll be sorry for it. I will not speak with you. I can always go to China.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-focus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}