Duterte aligns Philippines with China, says U.S. has lost

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced his “separation” from the United States on Thursday, declaring he had realigned with China as the two agreed to resolve their South China Sea dispute through talks.Duterte made his comments in Beijing, where he is visiting with at least 200 business people to pave the way for what he calls a new commercial alliance as relations with longtime ally Washington deteriorate.“In this venue, your honors, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States,” Duterte told Chinese and Philippine business people, to applause, at a forum in the Great Hall of the People attended by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.“Both in military, not maybe social, but economics also. America has lost.”Duterte’s efforts to engage China, months after a tribunal in the Hague ruled that Beijing did not have historic rights to the South China Sea in a case brought by the previous administration in Manila, marks a reversal in foreign policy since the 71-year-old former mayor took office on June 30.His trade secretary, Ramon Lopez, said $13.5 billion in deals would be signed during the China trip.“I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to (President Vladimir) Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world – China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way,” Duterte told his Beijing audience.Duterte’s remarks will prompt fresh concern in the United States, where the Obama administration has seen Manila as a key ally in its “rebalance” of resources to Asia in the face of a rising China.The administration agreed a deal with Duterte’s predecessor granting U.S. forces rotational access to bases in the Philippines and further doubts will be raised about the future of this arrangement.However, a White House spokesman stressed the traditional bonds between Washington and Manila when asked about Duterte’s comments and stuck to a U.S. approach of seeking to play down the Philippine leader’s repeated attacks.“The U.S.-Philippines alliance is built on a 70-year history, rich people-to-people ties, including a vibrant Filipino-American diaspora, and a long list of shared security interests,” spokesman Ned Price said.“We also remain one of the Philippines’ strongest economic partners; the current stock of U.S. foreign direct investment stands above $4.7 billion.”A few hours after Duterte’s speech, his top economic policymakers released a statement saying that, while Asian economic integration was “long overdue”, that did not mean the Philippines was turning its back on the West.