Philippines President Duterte to scrap future war games with U.S.

HANOI, Vietnam – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he was giving notice to the United States, his country’s long-standing ally, that joint exercises of Filipino and American troops next week will be the last such drills.

He told the Filipino community in Hanoi late Wednesday night that he will maintain the military alliance with the U.S. because of the countries’ 1951 defense treaty. But added next week’s exercises will proceed only because he did not want to embarrass his defense secretary.

Duterte said during a two-day visit to meet Vietnam’s leaders that he wants to establish new trade and commercial alliances with China and Russia, and that the war games were something Beijing does not want.

“I would serve notice to you now that this will be the last military exercise,” he said. “Jointly, Philippines-US, the last one.”

“I will maintain the military alliance because there is an RP-US pact which our countries signed in the early ’50s,” he said, referring to the Republic of the Philippines. “I will establish new alliances for trade and commerce and you are scheduled to hold war games again, which China does not want.”

Duterte has had an uneasy relationship with the United States since he won a presidential election in May. He says he is charting a foreign policy not dependent on the U.S., and has taken steps to revive ties with China, which had been strained under his predecessor over longstanding territorial conflicts in the South China Sea.

Earlier this month, he said he would not allow government forces to conduct joint patrols of disputed waters near the South China Sea with foreign powers, apparently scrapping a deal his predecessor reached with the U.S. military earlier this year.

He has said he wants U.S. military forces out of the southern Philippines and blamed America for inflaming local Muslim insurgencies there.

Duterte has said he was considering acquiring military equipment from Russia and China.