(Reuters) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte congratulated Donald Trump on his election win and said on Wednesday (November 9) he now wished to stop quarreling with ally the United States, recalling his anger at the Obama administration for criticizing him.
The maverick leader, dubbed “Trump of the East” for his unrestrained rants and occasional lewd remarks, has repeatedly hit out at Washington in recent months, threatening to cut defense pacts and end military joint drills.
“I would like to congratulate Mr. Donald Trump. Long live,” Duterte said in a speech to the Filipino community during a visit to Malaysia.
“We are both making curses. Even with trivial matters we curse. I was supposed to stop because Trump is there. I don’t want to quarrel anymore, because Trump has won.”
Duterte won a May election by a huge margin and is often compared to Trump, having himself been the alternative candidate from outside national politics. He campaigned on a populist, anti-establishment platform and struck a chord among ordinary Filipinos with his promises to fix what he called a broken country.
But the biggest surprise of Duterte’s presidency so far has been his hostility towards the United States, shown during near-daily eruptions of anger over its concerns about human rights abuses during his deadly war on drugs.
