WATCH | PH, Vietnam agree on WPS; but Du30 firm on ‘last military exercise’ with US

From InterAksyon (Oct 1): WATCH | PH, Vietnam agree on WPS; but Du30 firm on ‘last military exercise’ with US

President Rodrigo Duterte returned early Friday morning from a two-day fruitful official visit to Vietnam, saying his trip was another step forward in further solidifying the valuable ties between the Philippines and Vietnam.

”In my meeting with President Tran Dai Quang, we committed to ramp up bilateral exchanges to boost our Strategic Partnership,” President Duterte said in his arrival speech at the Davao International Airport at 2 a.m. Friday.

President Duterte said he and his Vietnamese counterpart agreed to increase exchanges between two countries’ officials and peoples and to establish a six-year action plan beginning next year for the implementation of activities in the areas of common interest.

”We have also agreed to increase the volume and achieve a more balanced trade and investment. We will enhance the investment environment to make it more conducive for businesses in both countries to flourish,” the President said.

The two leaders also agreed to identify new avenues of defense cooperation and to further strengthen existing maritime cooperation mechanisms.

”We will adopt measures to ensure the safety and security of fishermen from both countries. We will explore ways to intensify law enforcement cooperation against transnational crime, including the illegal drugs trade,” President Duterte said.

”We recognized that sustained economic growth and development rides on the back of a stable and secure environment,” he added.

President Duterte said the Philippines and Vietnam also reaffirmed their commitment to maintain and promote peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight, as well as unimpeded commerce in the region, particularly in the South China Sea which the Philippines calls the West Philippine Sea.

”We called for a peaceful resolution of disputes including full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, self-restraint in the conduct of activities, without resorting to a threat or use of force, in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law, under the 1982 UNCLOS,” the President said.

”We are nations for peace. We will continue to be so. A peaceful region is what we owe as a legacy to our succeeding generations,” he added.

President Duterte said the Philippines and Vietnam also agreed to support each other in other aspects of leadership roles as the chairs of the 2017 Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) Summit and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), respectively.

He also met with several leaders from both Philippines and Vietnam companies, urging them to invest in the country.

The President’s trip to Vietnam has also demonstrated the Philippines’ adherence to an independent foreign policy “which
 seeks cooperation and collaboration with friendly nations on the basis of sovereign equality, non-interference, and the mutual respect to protect our national interests.

While in Vietnam, the President also got a chance to meet with the Filipino community, thanking them for their valuable contributions to the social economic development both to their host nation and their mother land.

”I informed them of developments in our country and I assured them – as I have assured you – that I will be faithful to the mandate you have reposed in me as your President,” Duterte said.

Last military exercise with US

But the President stood firm on his decision to end the annual joint military exercises between the Philippines and the United States.

"I will serve notice to you now, that this will be the last military exercise, jointly Philippines-US, the last one," he said in a rambling speech to several hundred Vietnam-based Filipinos at an upscale Hanoi hotel on Sept. 29, in reference to the Philippine-US Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex) which are set to take place from October 4 to 12 in the Philippines.

In his speech in Davao, he said there was no real sharing of equipment and technology during the joint war games in the past.

He cited, as an example, the FA-50 fighter jets which were purchased by the past administration. Although they were bought from South Korea, the final approval for their use still comes from the US. The fighter jets were without the missiles and only served as displays.

“They don't allow us to buy the missiles. So what would be the point? Ceremonial, good. I agree,” Duterte lamented.

He took a shot again at the US in reaction to the remarks made by American senators Benjamin Cardin and Patrick Leahy that the Duterte administration has taken the wrong way in dealing with the Philippines' drug menace.

“Do not interfere in our affairs,” Duterte said.

The President said the US has its "own sins", referring to the shooting of African Americans, invading Iraq on the "flimsy" excuse that it has weapons of mass destruction, and undermining Libya, “which is now a destroyed nation”.

“I would like to appeal in answering the two senators. I’d like to (say to) the government of the United States: Stop this hypocrisy game and we are all right. Stop being hypocrites. Do not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world. Do not be the policeman because you do not have the eligibility to do that in my country,” he said.

Duterte equally belittled the critics from the European Union, saying: “quoted by the EU, by this, I said the pea-brained lawyers there. That ‘this official, this, even when he was mayor, he was threatening to kill the criminals’. What an idiot. Group of idiots in the purest form. You can read the penal codes, criminal laws of this land, you'll find nothing.”

WATCH THIS NEWS5 VIDEO REPORT BY MAEANNE LOS BANOS:

[Video report]

Compared to ‘Hitler’

The President also had words for critics who had "portrayed (him) to be a cousin of Hitler".
Noting that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had murdered millions of Jews, Duterte said, "There are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them.

"If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have ...," he said, pausing and pointing to himself.
"You know my victims. I would like (them) to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition."

Duterte's comments were quickly condemned by Jewish groups.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Digital Terrorism and Hate project, called them "outrageous".

"Duterte owes the victims (of the Holocaust) an apology for his disgusting rhetoric," Cooper said.
The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish group based in the United States, said Duterte's comments were "shocking for their tone-deafness".

"The comparison of drug users and dealers to Holocaust victims is inappropriate and deeply offensive," said Todd Gutnick, the group's director of communications. "It is baffling why any leader would want to model himself after such a monster."

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that any use of "the Holocaust and the suffering of the Holocaust in comparison to anything else, frankly, is inappropriate and needs to be rejected."

Despite all the criticisms, Duterte remained unperturbed.

Duterte said, “I'm just a small…, but I'm growing. Everybody wants to have a picture with me because they say, ‘You're the only one who can b*****.’ Of course I will.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/132918/watch--ph-vietnam-agree-on-wps-but-du30-firm-on-last-military-exercise-with-us