Duterte, US leader clash over brutal crime war

VIENTIANE

US President Barack Obama urged Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday to conduct his crime war “the right way”, as the two clashed at an Asian summit over the crackdown that has claimed 3,000 lives.

The showdown was a fitting climax to a brutal few days of diplomacy that began with the famously acid-tongued Duterte branding Obama a “son of a whore”.

After warnings from Mr Duterte that he would not be lectured on his crime war — which is seeing police and shadowy assassins kill an average of 44 people a day — Obama urged the Philippine leader to respect the rule of law.

“As despicable as these (crime) networks may be and as much damage as they do, it is important from our perspective to make sure that we do it the right way,” President Obama told reporters when asked about his conversation with Duterte on the sidelines of Laos meetings.

“Because the consequences of when you do it the wrong way are innocent people get hurt and you have a bunch of unintended consequences that don’t solve the problem.”

Obama’s call came shortly after Duterte gave what diplomats said was a “fiery” address to leaders of the 18-nation East Asia group, including Obama.

Veering off his prepared speech, Duterte launched into a tirade about US military killings in the Philippines when it was an American colony from 1898 to 1946, according to three diplomats AFP spoke with who were in the room.

“The Philippine president showed a picture of the killings of American soldiers in the past and the president said: ‘This is my ancestor they killed. Why now we are talking about human rights,” an Indonesian delegate said.