VIENTIANE, Laos -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte reaffirmed his campaign against drugs Tuesday and called for a redoubling of crime-fighting efforts across Southeast Asia.
His comments came as he is preparing to face two critics of his policy: President Barack Obama and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"We shall not be cowed. We must press on," he declared in a speech at a business and investment conference on the sidelines of a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which he is attending.
The summit has been overshadowed by his use of profane language toward Obama. Duterte also threatened earlier to pull the Philippines out of the U.N. over criticism that his crackdown on the illegal drug trade has led to a wave of extrajudicial killings. More than 2,000 people have been killed since June 30, when he took office after winning the presidential election on a promise to fight crime and corruption.
He is to attend a gala dinner tonight with both Obama and Ban, as well as join a meeting that the two leaders will have with the bloc's heads of state and government.
Earlier Tuesday, Duterte expressed regret over his "son of a b****" remark in Tagalog, directed at a reporter who asked how he would explain the extrajudicial killings to Obama.
In a statement read by his spokesman, Duterte said his "strong comments" in response to the reporter's questions "elicited concern and distress. We also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president."
Duterte made the remarks Monday before flying to Laos. He had been scheduled to meet Obama separately Tuesday, but the White House canceled the meeting.
The U.S. is one of the Philippines' largest trading partners and a security ally in its fight against Muslim militants in the country's south. Manila also needs Washington's help in dealing with China's expansionist moves in the disputed South China Sea. The U.S. provides hundreds of millions of dollars in annual assistance to the Philippine military.
Speaking to reporters Monday in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, Duterte said, "I do not want to quarrel with the most powerful country on the planet," but immediately returned to a combative approach, saying: "Washington has been so liberal about criticizing [abuses of] human rights, human rights and human rights. How about you? I have so many questions also about human rights to ask you. ... People who live in glass houses should not" throw stones.
He said that if the White House had problems with him, it could have sent him a diplomatic note and let him respond. "There's a protocol for that," Duterte said. "You just cannot shoot a statement against the president of any country."
By Tuesday, he had a new tone.
"We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions, and working in mutually responsible ways for both countries," he said in a statement.
Duterte has had a troubled relationship with the United States, criticizing its inability to stop violence in the Middle East and Africa, and citing U.S. police shootings of black Americans as a violation of human rights.
He has also taken a more conciliatory position with U.S. rival China. Philippine-China ties were strained under Duterte's predecessors because of territorial conflicts in the South China Sea. Duterte proclaimed early in his presidency that he would pursue a foreign policy not dependent on the United States.
Information for this article was contributed by Jim Gomez and Tassanee Vejpongsa of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/07/2016