US: ‘We’re not going to walk away’

From Update.Ph (Oct 5): US: ‘We’re not going to walk away’

“No one’s giving any head of state a free pass on unhelpful rhetoric. But I think what’s important is that any bilateral relationship be seen in the broader context, and by broader context I mean the fact that we have had and continue to have good, solid cooperation and productive cooperation with Philippines on a number of levels. And we’re going to continue to pursue that. We’re not going to walk away,” United States State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark C. Toner said when asked by the press to comment on President Rodrigo Duterte’s latest comments on US-Philippines relationship.

President Duterte said Tuesday that the US has criticized his campaign against illegal drugs instead of helping his months-old administration. The President said US President Barack “you can go to hell.”

“I would be reconfiguring my foreign policy. Eventually in my time I would break up with America. I would rather go to Russia or to China. Even though we don’t agree with the ideology, they have respect for the people,” President Duterte also said.

When pressed for more specific comment on Duterte’s statement, Toner said “I do not want to get into a tit-for-tat with President Duterte. I would simply say that we have a very strong bilateral relationship and a very strong people-to-people relationship, and I think if you asked any Filipino citizen they would say that same thing.”

“We value our relations with the Philippines. They’re a strong ally, a strong partner in the region. Again, we’ve had decades of strong relations with the Philippines. We’ve had each other’s backs and we want to continue that cooperation going forward. Public comments, rhetoric aside, we believe that the foundation still exists for that relationship to continue and strengthen,” Toner said.

http://www.update.ph/2016/10/us-were-not-going-to-walk-away/10014