Trump’s ‘Very Friendly’ Talk With Duterte Stuns Aides and Critics Alike -<br />By MARK LANDLERAPRIL 30, 2017<br />WASHINGTON — When President Trump called President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines on Saturday, the American<br />leader’s national security aides saw it as part of a routine diplomatic outreach to Southeast Asian leaders.<br />“Although the traits of his personality likely make it impossible, Trump should be ashamed of himself.”<br />Administration officials said the call to Mr. Duterte was one of several to Southeast Asian leaders<br />that the White House arranged after picking up signs that they felt neglected because of Mr. Trump’s intense focus on China, Japan and tensions over North Korea.<br />During their “very friendly conversation,” the administration said in a late-night statement, Mr. Trump invited Mr. Duterte, an authoritarian<br />leader accused of ordering extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the Philippines, to visit him at the White House.<br />Administration officials said Mr. Trump wanted to mend the alliance with the Philippines<br />as a bulwark against China’s expansionism in the South China Sea.<br />“By essentially endorsing Duterte’s murderous war on drugs, Trump is now morally complicit<br />in future killings,” said John Sifton, the Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
