Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been dubbed as the Donald Trump of Asia, as both politicians irked traditional allies and move closer to rivals.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has brought fear to some Americans as he showed his plans to build a wall between Mexico and United States, restricting immigrants entering the United States, and to force its allies to pay for American defense assistance.
World leaders slammed President Duterte because of his war against illegal drugs that caused the deaths of more than 3,600 suspected addicts and dealers. Further, he is revising the country’s foreign policies.
The two politicians may be different in so many ways, but have similarities in authoritarian leadership style. Duterte is a three-decade politician serving as mayor, prosecutor, congressman; while Trump is a billionaire who never held public office.
Duterte’s actions in the past few months showed the Americans an insight on what Trump presidency might look like.
Bridget Welsh, an international relations expert at National Taiwan University said, “Trump and Duterte are similar in their vulgarity, misogyny and in-your-face politics”. She added, “they also capitalize on similar sentiment—shake the system up, challenge the status quo and basically move beyond the norms of rule of law.”
But the two leaders show common characteristics in their willingness to reform the relationships with longstanding allies.
The United States is a long-time ally of the Philippines and viewed by most Filipinos as a friend. Yet, Duterte has been denouncing the American government, even calling Barack Obama “son of a whore.”
Trump denounced Angela Merkel for “ruining Germany” about her stand on refugees. He also suggested that he would support NATO allies only if they pay the United States for military assistance.
Both leaders have a tendency to react sharply to criticism. Duterte even threatened to withdraw its alliance with U.S. and U.N. after they chastised him over his drug war. And Trump, as Hillary Clinton emphasized in the three presidential debates, has a famously thin skin.
Both Trump and Duterte displays the same characteristics on foreign policy.
American officials criticized Duterte’s recent move to split with the U.S. in favor of China. Even his own mentor former President Fidel Ramos had things to say about it.
“Are we throwing away decades of military partnership, tactical proficiency, compatible weaponry, predictable logistics and soldier-to-soldier camaraderie, just like that?” asked Ramos in a recent editorial.
While Trump shows a strong stance over foreign policy, he proposed establishing safe zones in Syria. He also suggested meeting Russian “provocative” moves with military forces if necessary. “He and I haven’t spoken, and he and I disagree,” Trump said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the second presidential debate.
“I expect there would be mass resignations from the State Department, from government if there’s a Trump presidency”. Welsh added, “He doesn’t have a foreign policy and he doesn’t have a foreign policy community with him. I think America would face a very significant crisis.”
Last, the biggest similarity between Trump and Duterte is their shoot-from-the-hip communication style. Both seems to say whatever comes to mind, and have a tendency to contradict their statements in the next.
Duterte’s recent contradicting statement leaves China, Japan, even the U.S. confused about where exactly he stands. If this happens to the President of the United States, every word he says would have a global significance especially on military and foreign affairs.
Uncertainty has its costs.
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