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09-16-2016, 05:01 PM
WASHINGTON: The Philippines is firmly committed to its alliance with the United States but will **t be lectured on human rights and treated like a “little brown brother,” the country’s Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said on Thursday.
Speaking in Washington after recent remarks by the Philippines’ outspoken new President Rodrigo Duterte that have strained relations with the United States, Manila’s main ally, Yasay said some of Duterte’s remarks had been misunderstood.
He said Duterte had explained that his call for the withdrawal of US special forces from the southern Philippines was only a temporary measure to keep them out of harm’s way while Philippine forces undertook an offensive against Abu Sayyaf militants.
Yasay also said Duterte’s opposition to joint maritime patrols with the United States only concerned the Philippines’ “exclusive eco**mic zone”, **t joint patrols within 12 nautical miles.
The latter patrols, aimed at preserving the territorial integrity of the Philippines, “must continue because this is our commitment to the United States,” Yasay said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
The Philippines and the United States share concern about China’s pursuit of broad territorial claims in the South China Sea, which overlap with the claims of Manila and other neighbours. Washington and Manila agreed earlier this year on joint patrols in the area.
The minister rejected criticism of Duterte’s war on *****, in which thousands have been killed, and said relations with Washington should be based on mutual respect.
“I am asking our American friends, American leaders, to look at our aspirations,” he said. “We can**t forever be the little brown brothers of America. We have to develop, we have to grow and become the big brother of our own people.”
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Speaking in Washington after recent remarks by the Philippines’ outspoken new President Rodrigo Duterte that have strained relations with the United States, Manila’s main ally, Yasay said some of Duterte’s remarks had been misunderstood.
He said Duterte had explained that his call for the withdrawal of US special forces from the southern Philippines was only a temporary measure to keep them out of harm’s way while Philippine forces undertook an offensive against Abu Sayyaf militants.
Yasay also said Duterte’s opposition to joint maritime patrols with the United States only concerned the Philippines’ “exclusive eco**mic zone”, **t joint patrols within 12 nautical miles.
The latter patrols, aimed at preserving the territorial integrity of the Philippines, “must continue because this is our commitment to the United States,” Yasay said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
The Philippines and the United States share concern about China’s pursuit of broad territorial claims in the South China Sea, which overlap with the claims of Manila and other neighbours. Washington and Manila agreed earlier this year on joint patrols in the area.
The minister rejected criticism of Duterte’s war on *****, in which thousands have been killed, and said relations with Washington should be based on mutual respect.
“I am asking our American friends, American leaders, to look at our aspirations,” he said. “We can**t forever be the little brown brothers of America. We have to develop, we have to grow and become the big brother of our own people.”
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~4/UaZ3YXXYvgs
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