Philippine President Duterte Likes China Because China Won't Criticize Him - Forbes

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Philippine President Duterte Likes China Because China Won't Criticize Him

Ralph Jennings ,  Contributor
I cover under-reported stories from Taiwan and Asia.
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte obvioulsy doesn’t take well to criticism.

The leader said this month he personally had killed suspected criminals as past mayor of the country’s second largest city Davao. Since the 72-year-old leader with a reputation for fighting crime took office as president June 30, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people have been executed without trial in his campaign to rid the Southeast Asian archipelago of drugs such as “shabu” methamphetamine. Duterte learned that trick from Davao where he was mayor for 22 years and would personally patrol parts of the city for crime.

Also this month the U.S. anti-poverty agency Millennium Challenge Corp. said it would withhold $433 million in aid to the Philippines over civil liberty concerns, a likely reference to the drug-linked killings. So Duterte told the United States, an old ally, to “prepare to leave” his country and threatened to cancel a Visiting Forces Agreement that authorizes military exchanges with Washington. Duterte has used dirty language against the Pope, a U.N. official and others overseas for raising red flags about the extrajudicial killings, per news reports. On Dec. 5 he asked Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo, who was elected separately and represents an opposition party, to leave his cabinet. She too has questioned Duterte’s anti-crime tactics.

Continued: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2016/12/25/a-secret-to-why-the-new-philippine-president-likes-china-so-much/#269cf7746a90