Similarities don’t mean closer PH-US ties—Bello

President Duterte and US President-elect Donald Trump are expected to get along on a personal level, but this would not necessarily mean closer ties for their two countries, according to sociologist and former lawmaker Walden Bello.

The two leaders have authoritarian personalities and are probably bound to have a deep understanding of each other, and “thus know where not to tread,” Bello said.

It is in the same way that Trump gets along with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “boss” personality, he noted.

‘Godfathers’

“I see [Trump] getting along well with Mr. Duterte. ‘Godfathers’ understand each other, and can be quite friendly in their encounters because they know which buttons to push and which buttons not to push,” he said in an e-mail interview with the Inquirer.

“But will it ever come to Mr. Duterte singing, ‘it’s the Philippines, China, Russia and the US against the world?’ It depends on whether the chemistry is really good,” he added.

Bello also said that both Mr. Duterte and Trump were thin-skinned and held grudges even if others deemed it politically unwise to do so.

He noted that Mr. Duterte’s beef with the United States began as a personal quarrel with US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and President Barrack Obama who had criticized him, and eventually escalated into a “foreign policy crisis.”

Less antagonistic

But Mr. Duterte is likely to be less antagonistic toward Trump, even if he would continue to hold anti-American views, because the “personal dimension” is absent, he said.

Mr. Duterte earlier announced a military and economic separation from the United States, and said the Philippines would be more dependent on China.

After Trump’s victory, Malacañang said Mr. Duterte was looking forward to working with the President-elect for enhanced Philippine-US relations anchored on mutual respect, mutual benefit, and shared commitment to democratic ideals and the rule of law.

But Bello also said that given Trump’s plans and policies especially for East Asia and Mr. Duterte’s own new foreign policy, the Philippines and the United States may not necessarily grow closer.

“Overall, I think the combination of Trump’s election and Duterte’s new diplomacy might accelerate the Philippines’ distancing from Washington amid a broader reconfiguration of the US’ relations with East Asia,” he said.