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| President Rodrigo Duterte |
The Philippines and the United States launch war games on Tuesday against the unusual threat of American forces being ejected from the Southeast Asian nation as its firebrand leader pivots to China.
President Rodrigo Duterte has launched a sustained verbal assault on the United States, the Philippines' former colonial ruler and mutual defence partner, since he took office on June 30 in response to criticism of his deadly war on crime.
Duterte has in recent days warned the war games will be the last of his six-year term, and threatened to scrap a defence pact implemented by his predecessor that was meant to see more US troops in the Philippines to counter Chinese expansion in the South China Sea.
"Better think twice now because I will be asking you to leave the Philippines altogether," Duterte said on Sunday as he launched a tirade against the Americans full of typical invective.
"The Americans, I don't like them... they are reprimanding me in public. So I say: 'Screw you, fuck you'," he said, while signalling again that he wanted to forge closer alliances with China and Russia.
Read the full story at SpaceDaily