MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte is set to enjoy much-wanted foreign support for his deadly drug war when he hosts Southeast Asian leaders at a Manila summit this week, observers say.
Duterte's unpredictable foreign policy is also expected to be in focus at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) event, with confusion surrounding his approach to Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea.
Duterte's unpredictable foreign policy is also expected to be in focus at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) event, with confusion surrounding his approach to Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea.
It will be closely watched for how Duterte, who has shocked with curse-laden tirades against the United States and the United Nations, handles hosting his first major diplomatic event.
"This will be a very interesting time. Everyone thinks he is a very charismatic leader, he speaks off the cuff," a Southeast Asian diplomat involved in the summit's preparations told AFP.
The crackdown on drugs, which has claimed thousands of lives and led to warnings by rights groups about a possible crime against humanity, has been a defining theme of Duterte's first 10 months in power.
Duterte has relentlessly railed against the mostly Western critics of his drug war, angrily demanding they respect him while in turn using abusive terms to describe them.
He hogged the headlines at another ASEAN leaders' summit in Laos last year when he called then US president Barack Obama, who was also attending, a "son of a whore" for criticizing the drug war.
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