China defends Duterte’s call to separate from US

“Duterte is elected by the people. We believe he will make choices independently which benefits the Philippines and its people in mind,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here reacting to confusion and concern caused by Duterte’s remarks in the US. “The sovereign state Philippines can make decisions policies based on its own interests and we respect that,” she said defending Duterte’s statement virtually ending the Philippines alliance with the US and turn to Beijing. 

In a shocking announcement after his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Duterte told a meeting of Chinese and Philipino businesspeople on Thursday that, “I announce my separation from the United States. Both in military, not maybe social, but economics also. America has lost.” In the meeting attended among others by Chinese Vice Premier at Zhang Gaoli, Duterte said “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. It’s the only way.”