Duterte Wants U.S. to Pay to Keep Military Pact With Philippines

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he wants the U.S. to pay to keep a two-decade-old pact that facilitates joint military exercises, an agreement which he sought to scrap last year.

“Well, they have to pay. It’s a shared responsibility, but your share of responsibility does not come free,” Duterte said on Friday about the Visiting Forces Agreement with the U.S. “Because after all when the war breaks out, we all pay,” he said in a speech to Philippine soldiers, referring to any conflict that could escalate in the South China Sea.