(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday, Aug. 18, slammed a US defense official after he said the Philippines should “think carefully” about buying military equipment from Russia.
“Why? Did you stop other countries? Why are you stopping us? … You’re warning us, who are you to warn us?” he said in a speech during a Hugpong ng Pagbabago event in Davao, addressing the statement to US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs Randall Schriver.
According to Duterte, Schriver should meet him in a “forum” and “state your case why you are against my country acquiring [a] submarine.”
As it is though, he said the Philippines was the only country in Southeast Asia with no submarines.
He said Vietnam has seven, Malaysia has two, and Indonesia eight.
“You want us to remain backward?..Is that how you want to treat an ally? And you want us to stay with you all the time?” Duterte asked.
He noted that the Americans had sold refurbished helicopters to the Philippines, some of which have crashed.
South Korea, Japan, China and Russia, on the other hand, donated equipment to the Southeast Asian country.
“To this day, China or Russia never asked us even for a paper clip. They (China) never mentioned the West Philippine Sea, and I’m the one who’s mad,” he said.