No, seriously. No joke. President Duterte, can you actually see equality between West to the East?

Sphinx riddle President Vladimir Putin wants to know from President Rodrigo Duterte if equality between West and East is possible. MALACAÑANG PHOTO

The presence of President Rodrigo Duterte before the Valdai International Discussion Club so engaged the illustrious assembly of intellectuals and leaders that it elicited a question from Russian President Vladimir Putin on the evolving new world order.

The forum, a prestigious gathering of the best minds from the academe, politics, media and other sectors in Russia, was also attended by Putin and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

Through an interpreter, Putin said: “Ask the President of the Philippines. Can we equal the West to the East?”

Putin was apparently inspired by the speech of the President that analyzed the diminished influence of Western powers including the United States in the existing global order.

“No, seriously. No joke. President Duterte, can you actually see equality between West to the East? The division between East and West, is this a thing of the past, or it’s a natural division to have?” the Russian leader asked.

Similar to his discourse before Filipinos, the President indicated that democracy is not a monopoly of Western powers and “that the rest of the world are nations that are totalitarian or ruled by despots and tyrants.”

The President said the United States, for instance, has made an effective campaign to promote Western ideals.

“There’s always the USIS (US Information Service). It’s a library and everybody attended there and you can see all the propaganda,” he said.

Rody related that there will “always be a divide between the East and the West, culturally and financially, except for China who has really been doing great all these years, with so many dynasties. But the rest of East Asia had so many experiences of colonialism. That is why it’s very hard really to connect.”

“Indonesia went to the Dutch, the Philippines bowed to the Spaniards and the Americans. Any attempt that would force or persuade even a nation for them to adopt the Western ways is always suspect and that’s a problem,” according to the President.

He expressed to Putin the need for “more social intercourse that is not limited to diplomatic levels but in terms of exchanges among people.”

“In terms of loyalty, it’s also very hard now to fathom where they are or where the Philippines is. I’m charting a new course, not really separate from America, but more of the colonial vestiges of the practice of the Bull diplomacy,” the President shared to his Russian counterpart.

“And for the longest time we never had any concrete relations between Russia and the Eastern bloc at the time because they were pictured to be the enemy of democracy,” Mr. Duterte narrated.

For the new generation and sometimes a few like me, we have a hurt for being subjugated by foreigners, according to Mr. Duterte.

In his address to the plenary of the Valdai Discussion Club, the President said the Philippines is not waging war against the United States or any other country in the West. Rather, it is just asserting its sovereignty and standing by its independent foreign policy.

“What we seek — as I assume what the Russian people and all nations also desire — is fairness, equality and mutual respect. We want a strengthened rules-based order where countries, big or small, are treated the same,” the Chief Executive said in his speech.

“We want unimpeded freedom — guaranteed by our Constitution — to exercise our right to govern ourselves as a people and as we saw fit. And we want friends and partners to respect our independence to make sovereign decisions just as we respect theirs,” he added.

Mr. Duterte further bemoaned how Western nations only “see what they want to see to justify their preconceived notions, and not trying to understand what truly is happening there in my country.”

“We have seen them backtrack from defense contracts over baseless apprehensions that we would use arms to violate human rights. Yet, you see the same countries supplying high-end weaponry to parties whose actual human rights record leaves so much to be desired,” the Chief Executive expressed.

His policies, Mr. Duterte stressed, were put in place to protect the country “from those who wish to tear it apart.”

“We only seek to curb criminality that corrodes the very structure of government. We only seek to build a credible defense against those who might be tempted to violate our territorial integrity.

Is this not something that all nations are entitled to? Is this not what democratically elected governments are mandated to do?” he asserted.

“By their acts, they weaken my government’s ability to protect law-abiding citizens from the outlaws. They limit our capacity to stop the vicious cycle of internal conflict and underdevelopment. And they clip our wings making it more difficult for us to effect meaningful change for our people,” according to the President.