WASHINGTON—A top aide on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s invitation to President Rodrigo Duterte to visit Washington, saying the need to rally Asian allies over North Korea overshadowed concerns about Duterte’s brutal war on drugs.
On Saturday, the White House said Trump had invited Duterte in a “friendly” call in which the leaders discussed the Filipino President’s fight against drugs and the two countries’ alliance.
The statement touched only lightly on Duterte’s brutal crackdown on crime, which has claimed thousands of lives and drawn international condemnation.
But when White House chief of staff Reince Priebus was asked Sunday why Trump was “honoring” Duterte with the White House invitation, he told ABC, “I’m not so sure it’s a matter of honoring this president.”
“The issues facing us, developing out of North Korea, are so serious that we need cooperation at some level with as many partners in the area as we can get,” he said.
That way, Priebus added, “if something does happen in North Korea, we have everyone in line backing up a plan of action that may need to be put together with our partners in the area.”
Duterte had in the past regularly hit out at the United States, the Philippines’ one-time colonial ruler, for perceived hypocrisy over human rights. Last year he branded then US president Barack Obama a “son of a whore” for criticizing the drug war.
Duterte spoke of loosening the long-standing alliance with the US as he looked to court China, whose push to control most of the disputed South China Sea has alarmed neighbors.
But the White House said Saturday that the two leaders, both elected to office last year, had helped orient the US-Philippine relationship “in a very positive direction.”
The White House said Trump “enjoyed the conversation” with Duterte, and looked forward to attending the key US-Asean and East Asia summits in the Philippines in November.
Duterte’s spokesman Ernesto Abella confirmed Trump’s invitation, although he gave no indication of when the visit would take place.
Duterte has not been shy about his brutal campaign against drugs, saying of his country’s addicts, “I’d be happy to slaughter them” the way Hitler killed millions of Jews.
Police have reported killing 2,724 people as part of the anti-drug campaign, although authorities insist the shootings have been in self-defense.
Many thousands of others have been killed by shadowy vigilantes, according to rights groups.
A Filipino lawyer last week filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court accusing Duterte of mass murder, alleging his war on drugs had led to about 8,000 deaths.
When Priebus was asked whether Trump had raised that record with Duterte, he said he had not personally sat in on the entire phone call. But the purpose of the call, he added, was “all about North Korea.”
“There is nothing facing the country and the region more important than what’s going on in North Korea,” he added.
In the Philippines, Duterte’s pledge to stop the country turning into a narco-state has proved wildly popular with millions of Filipinos looking for a quick solution to crime and corruption.
Duterte is the latest in a series of authoritarian leaders with whom Trump has established friendly relations, including Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And he often spoke warmly of President Vladimir Putin of Russia—until differences over Syria erupted.
The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said Trump should preach about human rights to Duterte.
“One hopes the message will be very clear and undiluted from the President of United States to the President of the Philippines,” Zeid said in a news briefing.
A human rights watchdog urged Philippine allies, including the United States, to demand accountability for the victims of Duterte’s war on drugs.
Human Rights Watch deputy director for Asia Phelim Kine made the statement after the White House announced on Sunday that Trump invited Duterte to Washington D.C. during a phone conversation on Saturday.
“Countries with close bilateral ties to the Philippines, particularly the United States, have an obligation to urge accountability for the victims of Duterte’s abusive drug war, rather than offer to roll out the red carpet for official state visits with its mastermind,” Kine said in a statement.
The Palace did not confirm that Duterte had accepted Trump’s invitation.
“Let us just say, he was wont to appreciate the gesture. His response remains to be seen,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said. With AFP
