Philippines, US hold war games after Duterte tirades

[WorldNews]

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The Philippines and the United States launched war games on Tuesday against the backdrop of the unusual threat of American forces being ejected from the Southeast Asian nation, as its firebrand leader pivots to China. President Rodrigo Duterte has sustained a verbal assault on the United States, the Philippines' former colonial ruler and mutual defence partner, since he took office on June 30 in response to criticism of his deadly war on crime. Duterte has in recent days warned the war games will be the last of his six-year term, and threatened to scrap a defence pact implemented by his predecessor that was meant to see more US troops in the Philippines to counter Chinese expansion in the South China Sea.

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