Donald Trump did not press Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte about his history of human rights abuses when the two met on Monday.
‘The issue of human rights did not arise It was not brought up,’ Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque told reporters after the 40-minute meeting, saying that Duterte had broached the subject of the ‘drug menace’ in the Philippines.
Beforehand, the U.S. president allowed his Filipino counterpart to shut down reporters as they asked Trump whether the topic would come up.
‘Whoa! Whoa! We’re not answering any – this is not the press statement. We are in a bilateral meeting,’ Duterte said, dismissing the questions.
And Trump laughed along as Duterte mocked the reporters as ‘spies.’
U.S. President Donald Trump did not press Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte about his human rights record when the two met Monday in Manila, according to Duterte’s spokesman
‘We will be talking on matters of interest to both the Philippines and – with you around, guys? You’re the spies,’ the Filipino leader said. ‘Yes, you are.’
Trump let out a trio of chuckles.
He did speak on Monday, however, of the ‘great relationship’ he has with Duterte, as the two met on the sidelines of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations conference in Manila.
Their meeting was one of the most anticipated of the summit, with human rights groups pressing Trump to take a tough line on Duterte’s bloody drug war that has claimed thousands of lives.
Duterte, who has spoken highly of Trump, last week said he would tell him to ‘lay off’ if the topic of extrajudicial killings came up.
Trump was criticised in May for praising Duterte during a phone call for the ‘great job’ he was doing to counter illegal narcotics.
Before last year’s ASEAN gathering in Laos, Duterte warned then-president Barack Obama not to criticize how he’s handling his nation’s drug crisis.
‘You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. You son of a whore, I will curse you at that forum,’ Duterte said then.
The Philippines leader famously told a crowd of businessmen before he was elected that he would gladly pardon himself for ‘multiple murder’ if need be.
And he shares Trump’s broad disdain for reporters, although he has taken his views further than the U.S. president.
While Trump calls published stories he doesn’t like ‘fake news,’ Duterte said last year that ‘just because you’re a journalist, you are not exempted from assassination if you are a son of a bitch.’
Duterte won his nation’s highest office largely on a pledge to rid the Philippines of drugs and crime by killing as many as 100,000 people.
‘If they are there in your neighbourhood, feel free to call us, the police or do it yourself if you have the gun. You have my support,’ he said at one 2016 rally, describing how to handle drug dealers.
‘If he fights and fights to the death, you can kill him. I will give you a medal,’ he said.
Since he took office, police have reported killing 3,967 people in the crackdown.
Another 2,290 have been murdered in drug-related crimes, while thousands of other deaths remain unsolved, according to government data.
Many Filipinos back Duterte, believing he is taking necessary measures to fight crime, but human rights groups warn he may be orchestrating a crime against humanity.
Amnesty International accuses police of executing defenseless people and paying assassins to kill drug addicts.
When pressured over allegations of extra-judicial killings carried out by police, Duterte insists he has never told them to break the law.
But rights groups say police are following Duterte’s incitements to kill, including comments made last year when he said he would be ‘happy to slaughter’ three million addicts.
He has also repeatedly boasted about killing people himself, most recently on Thursday while in Da Nang, Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
‘When I was a teenager, I would go in and out of jail. I’d have rumbles here, rumbles there,’ said Duterte.
‘At the age of 16, I already killed someone. A real person, a rumble, a stabbing. I was just 16 years old. It was just over a look. How much more now that I am president?’
Duterte said in December 2016 that he had personally shot dead criminal suspects when he was an elected mayor – to set an example for police.
His spokesman at the time later clarified that the killings took place during a ‘legitimate police action.’
Duterte’s current spokesman has spent the last two days trying to persuade reporters that the colorful president’s new claim of stabbing someone to death shouldn’t be taken literally.
‘I think it was in jest. The Pres[ident] uses colorful language when w Pinoys (Filipinos) overseas,’ Roque said in a text message to one journalist.