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Duterte says ‘Goodbye’ America before meeting Xi in Beijing

Bloomberg Published on Thu, Oct 20, 2016 / 3:40 PM GMT+8

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(Oct 20): Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte spelled out his foreign policy pivot to China in the clearest terms yet, telling hundreds of Filipinos in Beijing that “it’s time to say goodbye” to the US.

“Foreign policy veers now towards” China, Duterte said on Wednesday night ahead of a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday. “No more American interference. No more American exercises,” he told a cheering crowd.

Duterte and Xi agreed to return to a "track of dialogue" over the South China Sea in what is a “new stage of maritime cooperation,” China’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenmin told reporters in Beijing Thursday. The two leaders did not discuss the disputed Scarborough Shoal.