Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday his country would maintain its existing defense treaties and its military alliances, adding to uncertainty and confusion over the status of security ties with the United States.
It an apparent break from a weeks-long torrent of anti-American rhetoric, Duterte suggested defense alliances would continue and his foreign policy was to “realign,” but reiterated joint exercises with US troops, a decades-old tradition, would be stopped.
Part of the re-alignment has been overtures toward China and Russia, which Duterte has spoken highly of and plans to visit in the weeks ahead, starting with China from Oct. 18-21.
“We need not really break or abrogate our existing treaties because they say that it could provide us with the umbrella,” Duterte said in a speech to the coast guard personnel in Manila.
“We will maintain all military alliances because they say we need it for our defense.”
It was not immediately clear who Duterte was attributing the comments to when he mentioned “they” in his justification for maintaining ties.
He told US President Barack Obama last week to “go to hell” and alluded to severing ties with Washington. He also said the Philippines “would not beg” for US aid and dared the US spy agency to oust him.
The maverick former Davao City mayor has expressed anger over US colonial rule and what he called “reprimands” from Washington about his bloody war on drugs.
The Philippines and the US currently hold 28 exercises together each year, three of which are major programs and the rest minor.

Source: Arab News