President Duterte urged the world’s great powers not to pursue interests at the expense of smaller countries.
Malacañang said that President Rodrigo Duterte urged the world’s great powers not to pursue interests at the expense of smaller countries.
President Duterte had called on the nations — particularly the world’s great powers — to act responsibly and to avoid pursuing interests in a way that harmed smaller countries as the world was faced with the coronavirus pandemic and other challenges.
Virtually addressing the 26th Future of Asia conference organized by Nikkei Inc., President Duterte also called for the peaceful and rules-based resolution of conflicts and discouraged nations from working against each other.
This year’s Nikkei conference centered on “Shaping the post-COVID era: Asia’s role in global recovery”.
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President Duterte was one of the global leaders who spoke during the Tokyo forum.
In a statement, Malacañang said that President Duterte once again sounded the alarm about the heightening geopolitical competition among the great powers that added another layer of complexity to regional security issues.
“Noting the pitfalls of zero-sum approaches, the President urged the great powers to ‘resist the temptation to pursue interests at the expense of smaller countries, in plain defiance of international law,’” Malacañang said.
President Duterte didn’t mention China and the United States in his speech but he previously alluded to the two superpowers battling dominance in the region. The President had declared that country wouldn’t take sides in the conflict among great powers.
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President Duterte, at the start of his term, had pursued closer ties with China despite an unresolved territorial conflict.
The Philippines’ ties with the United States, on the other hand, had been strained as President Duterte had repeatedly blasted the longtime ally for its alleged meddling with domestic affairs and alleged inferior treatment of the country.
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