“We believe that transparency is needed to create trust, and it's also needed to create a dialogue.”
—Julie Sweet
By Alex P. Vidal
IF ever President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and President Rodrigo R. Duterte will talk over the phone for the first time since Mr. Biden became the 46th President of the United States, Mr. Biden may not immediately tackle the issue about alleged human rights violations in the Philippines.
The two leaders will certainly discuss primarily their commitments for a traditional “mutual support” as ties between the U.S., a super power, and the Philippines have been reportedly tested since Mr. Duterte assumed the presidency in 2016 and embarked on months of expletive-laden tirades against the U.S.
He had also threatened repeatedly to scrap their bilateral military agreements even when President Barack Obama was still in office.
Mr. Biden would be very careful not to appear like interfering in the domestic affairs of the Philippines as Mr. Biden is probably aware the Duterte administration continued to belie accusations it violated the human rights of its citizens in the Philippine government’s “all-out” war against illegal drugs.
Even top Philippine officials have assured that the “Philippines will maintain close and friendly relations with the United States under Biden” amid a period of strain in their decades-old alliance.
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US News had earlier reported that Duterte “sought warmer ties with China and Russia, and took particular aim at former counterpart Barack Obama, to whom Biden was vice president. He once said he would not visit the United States, calling it a ‘lousy’ country.”
Duterte, who had asked Filipinos in the U.S. to vote for former President Donald Trump, had spoken positively about Mr. Trump but reportedly remained critical of American foreign policy.
Philippine political analysts reportedly expect the Biden administration to be “more vocal than its predecessor about human rights issues in the Philippines, including Duterte's signature war on drugs, during which thousands of people have been killed.”
Fears that Mr. Biden will open up the issues and concerns on human rights violations with Mr. Duterte was fueled by reports that in Mr. Biden’s first phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin since being sworn into office two weeks ago— a conversation that comes amid heightened U.S.-Russia tensions and after Putin initially refused to recognize Biden's election win, Mr. Biden “called Mr. Putin’s attention” on the reported Russian involvement in the recent massive cyber attacks on the U.S. government.
It was reported that the agenda for the Biden-Putin conversation was “long, running from areas of cooperation, such as nuclear arms control, to areas of contention, such as Russia's military aggression toward Ukraine.”
Then candidate Biden promised to take a tougher line with Mr. Putin than ex-President Donald Trump did, during the campaign.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin reportedly discussed their shared goal of renewing an expiring U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control agreement, during the phone call, as reported by White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki during a briefing on January 26.
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That major arms control pact reportedly expires on Feb. 5, so it’s an urgent matter.
“They also agreed to explore strategic stability discussions on a range of arms control and emerging security issues,” the White House said in its read-out of the conversation.
The rest of the call reportedly focused on U.S.-Russia flashpoints, according to the White House, starting with Russia's ongoing aggression toward Ukraine, a pivotal U.S. ally.
Mr. Putin was among the last major world leaders to acknowledge Mr. Biden's victory in the Nov. 3 election, waiting until Dec. 15 – after the Electoral College certified the results – to wish the new president success and to welcome engagement.
There’s no schedule phone conversation yet between Mr. Biden and Mr. Duterte as of this writing.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
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