United States President Barack Obama exchanged ‘pleasantries’ with his Philippines counterpart following an ugly outburst earlier this week that led to a cancellation of formal talks between the two leaders.
The two met informally in a holding room before attending a gala dinner in the Lao capital marking the beginning of the yearly ASEAN summit, a White House official said.
On Monday, hours before arriving in Laos, Duterte had told Philippine reporters he wouldn’t accept questions from Obama about extrajudicial killings that have occurred during his crackdown on suspected drug dealers and users. More than 2,000 people have been killed in the crackdown since he took office on June 30.
“I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not just throw questions. Putang ina, I will swear at you in that forum,” Duterte had said, using the Tagalog phrase for ‘son of a b***h.’
The White House said the remarks weren’t constructive and prompted called off the meeting, which had been slated for Tuesday.
After the meeting was cancelled, Duterte expressed regret for his outburst, saying in a statement through his spokesman that he regretted “it came across as a personal attack on the US President.”
“We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions,” the statement released on Tuesday read.
