VIENTIANE — The Philippines is scrambling to defuse a row with the US and its new president, Rodrigo Duterte, has voiced regret for calling President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch", comments that prompted Washington to call off a bilateral meeting. The tiff between the two allies overshadowed the opening of a summit of east and southeast Asian nations in Laos. It also soured Obama’s last tour as president through a region he has tried to make a focus of US foreign policy, a strategy widely seen as a response to China’s economic and military muscle-flexing. Obama said in a speech as the summit got under way that his push to make the US a key player in Asia-Pacific was not some "passing fad". However, diplomats say strains with longtime ally the Philippines could compound Washington’s difficulties in forging a united front with Southeast Asian partners on the geostrategic jostle with Beijing over the South China Sea. Duterte has bristled at criticism over his "war on drugs", which ha...
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