US President Barack Obama cancelled what was supposed to be his first meeting with Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte after Duterte called the US President "a son of a bitch", a White House spokesman said on Tuesday.
Duterte, a street-speaking populist known his for straight-to-the-point made the remark before the day they are supposed to meet in Laos for an annual summit where South Asian leaders are present.
"Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the (last) drug manufacturer is killed we will continue," he said.
Obama got the news and told his aides to talk to Philippine officials "to find out is this, in fact, a time where we can have some constructive, productive conversations," as he thinks the meeting would not proceed properly.
"I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting, that it's actually productive and we're getting something done," Obama told reporters.
Instead, Obama plans to meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye where meeting would focus on the response to North Korea's latest missile tests.
Obama arrived in Vientiane, Laos just before midnight on Monday, which is a first time for a US president to Laos. He wants to begin to address the legacy of US bombing during the Vietnam War.
The White House Spokesperson Ned Price had said Obama has not been planning to give his concerns about human rights abuses in the Philippines when him and Duterte would meet.
Obama added that he is with the fight against drug trade but insisted that it must be done under the rule of law and due process must be observed.
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