WorldMANILA, REUTERS -The president of the Philippines wants to liberate his country from a “shackling dependency” on the United States which can not guarantee its help when Philippine sovereignty is under threat, its foreign minister said. On Monday, Duterte said U.S. President Barack Obama should “go to hell”, the latest rebuke stemming from U.S. concern about Duterte's deadly war on drugs. On Thursday, Duterte said the United States and European Union should withdraw their assistance to the Philippines if they were unhappy with his crackdown. Since independence from the United States 70 years ago, it had never allowed the “little brown brothers” of the Philippines to become truly free, Yasay said. The Philippines would seek to engage with China, Yasay said, and would be mindful of the lessons it had learned from being too close to Washington.

Source: Sunday Times October 06, 2016 11:38 UTC