Duterte’s Bad-Boy Act Changes Asian Views of the Philippines
- Debut on international stage marred by tirade against Obama
- Philippine leader finishes week vowing to uphold sovereignty
Duterte's World Debut Marred by Obama Tirade
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte stepped onto the world stage last week with the swagger of a bad-boy rock star. Despite a patchy debut, including a rebuff from the U.S. president, Duterte has shown no loss of appetite for confrontation.
Returning from his first international trip as president -- to Laos for a global summit and then to Indonesia -- Duterte called the head of the United Nations a “fool” and repeated his vow for his nation to chart an independent foreign policy. He also denounced U.S. military killings when the Philippines was an American colony and thanked China for “being generous to us." On Monday, he called for U.S. troops to leave the southern island of Mindanao.