DU30’s separation from America

AS he himself admitted, he could not possibly separate the Philippines and our Republic from America– severe ties with the USA. These ties are formalized through treaties. It would need acts of our Congress to break those ties. That is why he said he only meant the separation to be between him—the individual Rodrigo Roa Duterte—and the USA and possibly by inference American human beings. And he made this more manifest by speaking to the Chinese leaders and the Chinese people about his affection for China and his being politically, economically and even militarily attracted to China and the Chinese.

That unfortunate display of sentimentality, which we know must have disappointed not just the Americans but also those Chinese whose high hopes in their country’s foreign affairs is to become a friend of the United States and of the Philippines and the Filipinos they prize for being the “Americans of Asia.” Those who study Chinese-Philippine relations rigorously do not lose sight of this fact of our being.