Saying he wants an “independent foreign policy,” Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte insisted he wants US troops to leave the country, possibly within two years, BBC News reported Wednesday. Under a current defence pact, the US maintains troops at five military bases in the Philippines. Since taking office Duterte has strongly emphasized a pivot away from the US, a long-time ally and former colonial ruler, towards China, the report said. "I want, maybe in the next two years, my country free of the presence of foreign military troops. I want them out," he told a forum in Tokyo on Wednesday. He reiterated the possibility of cancelling current agreements with the US, as well as his desire to...
