News / Interviews

Manila was wise to shift away from US: Analyst

Friday, 21 October 2016 11:17 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 21 October 2016 11:19 AM ]

The Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte makes a speech during the Philippines-China Trade and Investment Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, October 20, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

In an official visit to Beijing, the Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte announced his “separation” from the United States.

Prior to his Thursday visit, President Duterte had stressed his country’s pursuit of a shift away from Washington, blasting America’s policies and announcing an end to joint military exercises with the US military.

Press TV has interviewed William Jones, an analyst with the Executive Intelligence Review, to discuss the reasons behind the policy shift.

Jones said the Filipino president made it very clear that he “is not interested in starting World War III” because he is well aware that the United States is attempting to use the Philippines to create a conflict.

“President Duterte wisely understood that this (the US policies) could lead, very easily, to a conflict between nuclear powers and he was not going to be a part of it,” Jones said.

According to the commentator, the Filipino president came to the conclusion that his country could benefit from cooperating with Beijing because “China is providing global economic development for all the countries in the region.”

The people of the Philippines have received “troops, trouble and great risks” from the United States, he said, adding that they thus prefer to shift toward China to help stabilize South Asia instead of following up the US policy of going to war with other nations.

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