Duterte Asks US on Sea Feud With China, 'Are You With Us?'

abcnews.go.com

The Philippine president-elect said Tuesday that he recently asked the U.S. ambassador whether Washington will support the Philippines in case of a possible confrontation with China in the disputed South China Sea.

Rodrigo Duterte suggested in a speech in a business forum in southern Davao city that a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the allies does not automatically oblige Washington to immediately help if the Philippines gets into a confrontation with China over a territorial dispute.

Duterte said he asked U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg in a recent meeting, "Are you with us or are you not with us?" adding that Goldberg responded, "Only if you are attacked."

In Washington, the State Department said it would not comment on the details of diplomatic conversations or on the possibility of the U.S. coming to the defense of the Philippines in the South China Sea. But it said the U.S.-Philippine alliance is "ironclad" and the U.S. would stand by its treaty commitments.