‘They are connected with the CIA’: Rodrigo Duterte claims US envoys plotted to undermine his government
Duterte has made no secret of his grudge against the US and has a particular disdain for President Barack Obama
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte derided US ambassadors as “spies” on Thursday, responding to a media report of an alleged American plot to destabilise his government, a job he said some envoys were appointed solely to do.
The volatile former mayor said though had received no intelligence reports of any US plan to undermine his presidency, he believed most ambassadors were in cahoots with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which had a track record of meddling in other countries’ affairs.
The Manila Times newspaper on Tuesday reported a former US ambassador to the Philippines had prepared a “blueprint to undermine Duterte”, citing a document it had received from a what it described as a “highly placed source”. The US State Department has described the allegations as “false”.
The ambassador of a country is the number one spy ... there are ambassadors of the US, their forte is really to undermine governments
“Most of the ambassadors of the United States, but not all, are not really professional ambassadors. At the same time they are spying, they are connected with the CIA,” Duterte said in a television interview.
“The ambassador of a country is the number one spy. But there are ambassadors of the US, their forte is really to undermine governments.”
Duterte has made no secret of his grudge against the US and has a particular disdain for President Barack Obama, who he has told to “go to hell”, mostly over Obama’s concern s about Duterte’s deadly drugs war.
He has made repeated threats to abrogate security treaties with the US and vented almost daily about US “hypocrisy” and “bullying”.
On Thursday, Duterte said he would honour those treaties and that he liked US president-elect Donald Trump and was keenly waiting for him to take office.