After split with US, Duterte wants deal with Putin too
BEIJING - After declaring a military and economic split from the United States in Beijing, President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next to forge closer relations.
Duterte made the remark before Chinese government officials and business leaders who attended the Philippines-China Trade and Investment Forum.
"I realign myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin. There are three of us against the world. China, Philippines, Russia," Duterte said.
The pronouncement is the latest in increasingly hostile remarks against the US by Duterte, who has bristled at criticism of the rising death toll of his administration's crime campaign by Western countries.
He has previously said he wanted to open economic ties with China and Russia.
He seemed to accomplish part of that in his state visit to the Chinese capital, with trade secretary Ramon Lopez saying $13.5 billion in deals would be signed.
Duterte has also expressed an openness to hold war games with the two countries, after earlier declaring the end to joint military exercises with American soldiers. —Trisha Macas/JST, GMA News
