Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, left, and the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, right, have been invited to the White House by Donald Trump.

Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, left, and the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, right, have been invited to the White House by Donald Trump. Composite: Reuters/AFP/Getty Images

Donald Trump has revived US relations with two of Asia’s most authoritarian heads of state – the leader of Thailand’s junta and the president of the Philippines – by inviting them to the White House.

In separate phonecalls over the weekend, Trump spoke with Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former general who took power in a 2014 coup, and the Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, who is accused of mass murder.

The calls aimed to rally regional allies as Washington takes an increasingly hard line towards North Korea’s nuclear programme. The country ran another failed missile test on Friday.

The governments of Thailand and the Philippines had cooperative but strained relationships with the US before Trump took office, mostly because of human rights concerns expressed by the former administration.

Neither leader was offered an official White House visit during Barack Obama’s tenur, although Prayuth did attend a summit in California. Obama cancelled a meeting with Duterte after the Filipino strongman referred to him as a “son of a whore”.

Asked on Monday about his invitation from Trump, Duterte was non-committal, telling reporters: “I’m tied up. I cannot make any definite promise. I am supposed to go to Russia and go to Israel.”

Thailand’s deputy government spokesman, Lt Gen Werachon Sukondhapatipak, did not mention North Korea but said “[the US and Thailand] stand ready to enhance bilateral cooperation in all dimensions”.

Bangkok’s ruling generals have promised elections yet repeatedly delayed a vague deadline for a return to democratic rule, now tentatively tabled for late 2018.With Prayuth as prime minister, politicians and activists have been detained as part of a countrywide clampdown. The launch of an Amnesty International report on torture in jails last year was blocked by police.

In Manila, Duterte has used his first 10 months in office to conduct a devastating crackdown on crime in which thousands of suspected drug dealers and alleged addicts have died. More than 7,000 people have been killed by police and vigilantes.

Phelim Kine, Human Rights Watch’s deputy director for Asia, said: “Countries with close bilateral ties to the Philippines, particularly the United States, have an obligation to urge accountability for the victims of Duterte’s abusive drug war, rather than offer to roll out the red carpet for official state visits with its mastermind.”

Kine said Duterte was an “enthusiastic cheerleader” for thousands of extrajudicial killings, adding: “He has made repeated calls for the public to kill drug addicts as part of his anti-drug campaign.”

Last week, a Filipino lawyer filed a complaint at the international criminal court accusing Duterte and 11 officials of mass murder and crimes against humanity.

The 77-page complaint alleged the president had “repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously” committed extrajudicial executions or mass murders over three decades, amounting to crimes against humanity. Duterte’s aides have denied the allegations.

The White House said the discussion with Duterte was “very friendly” and Trump specifically praised his deadly campaign, saying the Philippine president was “fighting very hard to rid his country of drugs”.

Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, twice refused in an interview to say whether Trump had raised human rights concerns. “Obviously, we want to encourage [Duterte] to do better. But this call, the purpose of this call, is all about North Korea,” he told ABC’s This Week.

“Now if we don’t have all of our folks together, whether they’re good folks, bad folks, people that we wish would do better in their country, doesn’t matter. We have got to be on the same page,” he said.



Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, questioned Trump’s motives for inviting Duterte, saying Manila had no leverage over Pyongyang.

Cheap excuse for Trump inviting to White House man who promotes thousands of summary executions. Duterte has no leverage over North Korea. https://t.co/ig4qm6S96R — Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) April 30, 2017

Trump has a potential conflict of interest in the Philippines as his family brand is due to open a skyscraper in Manila. The Filipino developer Jose EB Antonio was named as “special trade envoy” to the US last year, making the US president’s family and a Philippine government official business partners.

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