- Title: Philippines' Duterte seeks China, Russia's help in drug war
- Date: 27th September 2016
- Summary: PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES (SEPTEMBERS 27, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS PROFANITY*** VARIOUS OF PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE WALKING WITH OFFICIALS METHAMPHETAMINE BOILERS PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKING PICTURES OF DUTERTE DUTERTE SHAKING HANDS AND HUGGING OFFICIALS AND POLICE OFFICERS DUTERTE SHAKING HANDS AND SALUTING POLICE OFFICERS JOURNALISTS TAKING PHOTOS AND VIDEO OF DUTERTE VARIOUS OF DUTERTE LISTENING TO PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE CHIEF RONALD DELA ROSA DUTERTE AND OFFICIALS CLIMBING STAIRS TO METHAMPHETAMINE BOILERS DUTERTE LOOKING AT METHAMPHETAMINE BOILERS DUTERTE INSPECTING DRUG LABORATORY MACHINES WITH OFFICIALS DUTERTE WALKING DOWN STAIRS DUTERTE SPEAKING BEHIND PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English/Filipino) PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT, RODRIGO DUTERTE, SAYING: "Look at what they did. They not only accepted my challenge, but those of sons of bitches also built a factory. Now, we are dealing with China. I will bring this to their attention. I'm leaving for Vietnam then maybe go to China. All of the materials come from China. We want them also to control their people and increase the focus on their criminals. We're friends, but why is it like this? If you consider me your friend, you want to help us, but most of the materials, all of the machines and the boilers are from China, what does that mean?" DELA ROSA LOOKING WITH POLICE OFFICERS AND SOLDIER LOOKING ON DUTERTE DRINKING WATER BEHIND PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English/Filipino) DUTERTE SAYING: "What I am asking the Filipino in the coming days, if America will really make it true, I am going to ask you to sacrifice a little bit. But by next year I would have entered alliances with so many countries. I will have an alliance in military, trade and commerce with China. I have talked to President Medvedev of Russia and we agreed that I will go there and we'll talk about how they can help us here. China is ready, ready to help us and I would act now. They should be ready to help us with this goddamn problem of drugs." DUTERTE LEAVING PODIUM VARIOUS OF METHAMPHETAMINE BOILERS
- Embargoed: 12th October 2016 11:51
- Keywords: Philippines Rodrigo Duterte drugs Beijing Moscow help drug war
- Location: PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES
- City: PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00151CBI2T
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday (September 27) asked Beijing to control drug gangs supplying narcotics to the Philippines and to help his crackdown on narcotics in a speech in an abandoned drug factory in Pampanga, north of Manila.
Duterte was inspecting a laboratory at the foot of a mountain in Pampanga which had seven boilers that can produce 50 to 100 kilograms of the drug methamphetamine, locally known as "shabu," per day, the largest facility netted under his bloody narcotics crackdown.
Police found the abandoned shabu laboratory on Thursday (September 22) and said a Chinese national named "Mr. Chua" owned the facility.
"Look at what they did. They not only accepted my challenge, but those of sons of bitches also built a factory. Now, we are dealing with China. I will bring this to their attention. I'm leaving for Vietnam then maybe go to China. All of the materials come from China. We want them also to control their people and increase the focus on their criminals. We're friends, but why is it like this? If you consider me your friend, you want to help us, but most of the materials, all of the machines and the boilers are from China, what does that mean?" Duterte said.
Duterte, who vowed to stamp out illegal drugs within six months of his term, said he will be asking help from China and Russia, countries opposed to Manila's long-time ally Washington, to stop the flow of narcotics in the Philippines.
"What I am asking the Filipino in the coming days, if America will really make it true, I am going to ask you to sacrifice a little bit. But by next year I would have entered alliances with so many countries. I will have an alliance in military, trade and commerce with China. I have talked to President Medvedev of Russia and we agreed that I will go there and we'll talk about how they can help us here. China is ready, ready to help us and I would act now. They should be ready to help us with this goddamn problem of drugs," he said.
Duterte said in a speech on Monday (September 26) that his relationship with the United States was about to "cross the rubicon" and that he will open new trade deals and alliances with Beijing and Moscow, distancing Manila from its former colonial master.
The peso fell to its lowest since 2009 on Monday and foreign investors have dumped local shares for six straight weeks, worried about Duterte's anti-U.S. rhetoric and brutal war on drugs, which has alarmed rights groups at home and abroad.
It is unclear whether Duterte's statements will impact on relations between the two countries. Militaries of both sides are due to carry out joint exercises in the first half of October. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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