Trump's "very friendly" talk with Duterte stuns aides and critics alike

Now, administration officials are bracing for an avalanche of criticism from human rights groups. Two officials said they expected the State Department and the National Security Council, both of which were caught off guard by the invitation, to raise objections internally…

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Administration officials said Mr. Trump wanted to mend the alliance with the Philippines as a bulwark against China’s expansionism in the South China Sea. The Philippines has clashed with China over disputed reefs and shoals in the waterway, which they share.

Mr. Trump, these officials said, admires Mr. Duterte’s fierce words on fighting Islamist extremists who have terrorized the southern islands of the Philippine archipelago. Mr. Duterte once declared that if he were presented with a suspected terrorist, “give me salt and vinegar and I’ll eat his liver.”

The two leaders are also in tune on the need for a crackdown on drugs, even if Mr. Trump is not advocating Mr. Duterte’s brutal methods. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has revived the language of the “war on drugs” that the Obama administration shunned as part of its policy to reduce lengthy prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.

Beyond that, there is Mr. Trump’s instinctive affinity for strongmen.

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