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Duterte wants to be friends with Trump, Putin

Jim Gomez - Philstar.com

November 16, 2016 | 4:16pm

Duterte wants to be friends with Trump, Putin

President Rodrigo Duterte during a news conference late Tuesday night said he wants to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The Philippine leader has previously said that Putin is his "idol." Meanwhile, he said Philippine-US ties, which has been souring lately after US President Barack Obama criticized Duterte's blood war on drugs, can improve under Trump.

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte who has been hostile to US President Barack Obama for criticizing his deadly anti-drug crackdown, has congratulated Donald Trump for a "well-deserved victory" and says he is excited to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin at an upcoming Asia-Pacific summit.

Duterte, who has been criticized for his foul language and the drug crackdown, gave upbeat remarks about the president-elect and Putin in a late Tuesday news conference in Manila.

Asked whether his ties with America can improve under Trump, Duterte replied: "I'm sure, we have no quarrel. I can always be a friend to anybody, specially to a ... president, chief executive of another country."

Duterte, who has been compared to Trump due to his devil-may-care irreverence to rivals and critics, said the US president-elect was "the chosen leader of the people of the most powerful country in the world."

"I trust in his judgment," said Duterte, adding he expected Trump to be fair in dealing with illegal immigrants.

Filipinos make up one of the largest expatriate groups in the US.

Duterte, 71, has had a frosty relationship with Obama and the US government since the US chief executive spoke out against the Philippine president's anti-drug war that is thought to have left more than 4,000 drug suspects dead since July. At the height of his public outbursts, he told Obama to "go to hell" and announced his "separation" with America, his country's treaty ally, during a state visit to China last month.

Duterte later walked back on that, saying what he meant was his desire to chart a foreign policy that would not overly lean on America.

But Duterte has publicly vowed to stop joint combat drills with the US military and scale back other security engagements with Washington, although he has also softened up on those threats. Philippine defense officials announced last week that Duterte had agreed to allow a smaller number of joint military exercises, adding that overt assault drills would be discontinued.

The push away from Washington has been accompanied by Duterte reaching out to China and Russia.

Duterte said he wants to meet with Putin, who he adds also loves guns and hunting, at this month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru, and that he wants their countries to have strong ties.

"I will not ask for anything. I want to be friends with him, I just want the two countries to be the best of friends," he said.