MANILA, Philippines _ As Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump slugged it out in Las Vegas, the leader of one of America's most important Asian allies said he wants to cut the cord with the U.S. and pivot to China and Russia.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte made the pronouncement on Thursday during a state visit to Beijing that came several weeks after he told President Barack Obama to "go to hell." Since taking office in June, the brash 71-year-old leader has repeatedly questioned his nation's links with the U.S. while touting the economic benefits of closer ties with China.
"I announce my separation from the U.S.," Duterte said on Thursday to a packed room of business leaders in the Chinese capital after meeting with President Xi Jinping. Duterte also said he might go to Russian President Vladimir Putin and tell him "there's three of us against the world."
The comments marked Duterte's strongest yet in disparaging a seven-decade alliance that has underpinned the U.S.'s Asia-Pacific strategy since World War II. The uncertainty poses a fresh challenge for either Trump or Clinton, who helped initiate a rebalance in U.S. foreign-policy priorities to Asia during her time as secretary of state.
Still, it remains to be seen whether Duterte will follow through on the heated rhetoric with actions _ such as jointly exploring for energy with Beijing in disputed waters or tearing up defense agreements that give America access to bases in the Philippines. The U.S. has strong ties with the Philippine defense establishment, and the nation's citizens trust America more than China by a wide margin.
"Symbolically none of this good for the U.S., but in concrete terms the U.S. has thick skin," said Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. "If the Duterte government starts to restrict U.S. access to Philippine bases or something like that, then the U.S. will have a problem."
While Duterte's cabinet members often seek to tone down his remarks _ a routine they followed again on Thursday _ the president has repeatedly ramped up the rhetoric. In his speech to business leaders, Duterte said that the separation from the U.S. would be both military and economic, without elaborating. Duterte said he was mulling plans to require U.S. visitors to the Philippines to obtain a visa.
In a joint statement issued after Duterte's speech, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the Philippine cabinet would move strongly and swiftly towards regional economic integration.
"We will maintain relations with the west but we desire stronger integration with our neighbors," the statement said. Overseas investors, however, appear to have been unsettled by the mixed messages. The peso dropped to the weakest in seven years this month as $666 million fled from the nation's local-currency stocks and bonds since August 1.
Earlier in the day, China announced a resumption of bilateral talks on contested territory in the South China Sea, an issue that had previously pushed the Philippines closer to America. China's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin hailed a "new stage of maritime cooperation."
"It's a win-win for both," said Kang Lin, deputy director of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, China's only state-backed research institution dedicated to South China Sea research. "The Philippines can reap a commercial harvest from his trip, including much-needed infrastructure funding. And for China, it's the temporary end of the South China Sea migraine that lasted for the past couple of years."
Officials from both countries signed 13 pacts on areas including trade, investment and tourism. China agreed to extend $9 billion in credit to the Philippines, the Inquirer reported, including $6 billion in soft loans. China overtook the U.S. as the Philippines's largest trading partner in 2006.
Duterte welcomed investment from China, telling the business forum: "I have separated from them, so I will be dependent on you for a long time."
"If China can get the Philippines out of the orbit of the U.S., it will be a big victory for it even if the Philippines doesn't necessarily align itself with China," said Ramon Casiple, executive director at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform in Manila. "Duterte wants to get more benefits from all _ that's the card he's playing and he's playing it to the hilt."
Before his meeting with Xi, Duterte told hundreds of Filipinos in Beijing that "it's time to say goodbye" to the U.S.
"Foreign policy veers now towards" China, Duterte said on Wednesday night. "No more American interference. No more American exercises," he told a cheering crowd. "I will not go to America anymore" for assistance, he said. "We will just be insulted there."
The U.S. has expressed concern about Duterte's policies. Philip Goldberg, the U.S. envoy in Manila, said Wednesday that the Philippines's efforts to improve ties with China "shouldn't be a zero-sum game."
Although Duterte or the Philippines wasn't mentioned in Wednesday night's debate, U.S. relations toward China and Russia came up repeatedly. Trump again said he would pressure American partners to pay more, while Clinton said the alliances made both the U.S. and the world safer.
Even as Duterte warmed up to China, Beijing appeared eager to distance itself from his anti-U.S. rhetoric. A commentary run by the official Chinese news agency Xinhua on Thursday said the rekindling of ties between Manila and Beijing carried "no meaning" for the Philippine-U.S. alliance.
"The Chinese government never attempts to build up its ties with other countries on condition that these nations have to sacrifice their partnership with any third party," it said.
Despite his remarks, Duterte still has yet to commit to anything that may permanently undermine the long-standing alliance between the U.S. and the Philippines. He hasn't torn up any agreements, conceded that China has sovereignty in disputed waters or undermined the right of the U.S. to conduct military operations in the South China Sea.
"The 'yet' is a very big 'yet,'" said Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra. "At a certain point, if Duterte wants to reap the economic benefits from his visit to China he will need to pay the piper. He will need to do what he is saying, otherwise he won't get anything from China."
