US may destabilize Filipino president: Analyst

A political analyst says the United States may try to “replace or destabilize” Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte after he announced his nation’s “separation” from the US.

“America has lost. I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to (President Vladimir) Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia. It’s the only way,” Duterte said in Beijing last week.

His remarks angered Washington, with US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel saying Monday that Duterte’s fiery remarks had created consternation in “not only in mine and not only among governments, but also growing concern in other communities, in the expat Filipino community, in corporate boardrooms as well. This is not a positive trend.”

James Jatras, former US Senate foreign policy analyst, told Press TV on Monday that Washington does not “do very well in accepting foreign leaders that we believe are becoming too independent.”

“I’m sure that there will be some people here in Washington that will be thinking in terms of how we destabilize Mr. Duterte and maybe replace him, I am not sure how strong that force will be, but no doubt there some people thinking around those lines,” he said.

However, he said, “From the information I’ve seen, most people of the Philippines seem to support the approach he is taking, now that includes also applauding an independent foreign policy, one that is not going to simply serve as a tool of American policy in the western Pacific, that is specifically on confronting China, which is not in the Philippines' interest.”

After Duterte made such remarks, he quickly said he did not plan to sever his country’s seven-decade alliance with the US.

The remarks came after US criticism of Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown, which has left some 3,000 suspected drug dealers and pushers dead in just three months.

In 2002, US soldiers were stationed on the southern island of Mindanao to purportedly train and advise local government forces in their fight against Abu Sayyaf militants in the south.

The majority of the US personnel withdrew in 2015, but US officials said some of American troops are in the Philippines in an advisory role.

On Friday, hundreds of left-wing activists and indigenous citizens poured onto the streets of the capital Manila to call for the withdrawal of US troops from the country.

During the rally, the protesters burned a US flag and urged the Duterte government to terminate military agreements with Washington.

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