Trump invites Duterte to DC
White House visit discussed as 2 leaders speak about N. Korea
President extends offer of White House visit to Philippine leader in call to discuss NorthKorea.
WASHINGTON — Signaling what’s perhaps a warming relationship between their two countries, President Donald Trump invited the controversial leader of the Philippines to the White House in a phone call Saturday.
The two leaders had “a very friendly conversation” in which they talked about the NorthKorea threat, according to the White House’s readout of the call.
Philippine presidential spokesman Ernie Abella said that Trump mentioned he was looking forward to visiting the Philippines in November to attend an East Asia summit that Rodrigo Duterte will host and that Trump invited Duterte to visit the WhiteHouse.
What apparently remained unmentioned on the call, however, are the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and users as part of the Duterte government’s drug war. Thousands have been killed by police and vigilantes since Duterte took office and vowed to eradicate his country’s extensive drug problem. The rising death toll has drawn criticisms from international human rights groups.
Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, said the friendlier ties with the Philippines are needed even with concerns about Duterte’s rights record.
“The purpose of this call is all about North Korea,” Priebus told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “It doesn’t mean that human rights don’t matter.”
The relationship between the United States and the Philippines soured under President Barack Obama, who criticized Duterte’s war on drugs. Duterte snapped at Obama on a few occasions, once telling him to “go to hell.” In September, Obama canceled a meeting with Duterte.
With Trump at the helm, the relationship between the two countries seems to be shifting.
In a brief phone call in December about the drug war, then-President-elect Trump told Duterte that he was doing it the “rightway,” according to Duterte’s account of the conversation.
The White House said that the relationship between the two countries “is now heading in a very positive direction” and that Trump is looking forward to visiting the Philippines in November during the East Asia and U.S. Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, summits.
The Philippines hosted the 30th ASEAN Summit over theweekend.
The nuclear threat posed by North Korea — and how the Trump administration will deal with the secretive country — was brought up during a discussion with ASEAN leaders, according to a statement.
Duterte implored the United States to show restraint and patience in dealing with North Korean leader Kim JongUn.
As he defended Trump’s praise of Duterte, Priebus said the president’s top priority is addressing the threat of North Korea and partnering with countries in Southeast Asia.
“The issue on the table is North Korea, and there is nothing right now facing this country and facing the region that is a bigger threat than what’s happening in North Korea,” Priebus said. “And if we don’t have all of our folks together — whether they’re good folks, bad folks, people that we wish would do better in their country, doesn’t matter, we’ve got to be on the same page.”
ABC’s Jonathan Karl pressed Priebus on Duterte’s “abysmal human rights record,” asking how Trump could praise a leader accused of mass killings. Priebus wouldn’t say if the issue came up in the call, saying he didn’t hear the entire conversation.
Priebus added human rights are “very high at the top of the list” of the president’s priorities.
Trump’s invitation to Duterte immediately attracted criticism from the Human Rights Watch.
“Speaking glowingly of a man who boasts (of ) killing
of his own citizens, inviting him to the White House, and saying nothing of his terrifying human rights record, sends a terrifying message,” John Sifton, the organization’s Asia advocacy director, said in a statement. “By essentially endorsing Duterte’s murderous ‘war on drugs, Trump is now morally complicit in future killings.”