MANILA: The Philippines will maintain its trade and economic ties with the United States, Trade Minister Ramon Lopez said on Friday, a day after President Rodrigo Duterte announced its “separation” from Washington. “In this venue, your honours, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States,” Duterte told Chinese and Philippine business people to applause at a forum in the Great Hall of the People attended by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. The president did not talk about separation,” Lopez told CNN Philippines in Beijing. “In terms of economic (ties), we are not stopping trade, investment with America. “It’s the only way.”Duterte’s remarks will prompt fresh concern in the United States, where the Obama administration has seen Manila as an important ally in its “rebalance” of resources to Asia in the face of a rising China.

Source: New Strait Times October 21, 2016 04:18 UTC