Duterte to warring nations: ‘Let’s not hate each other too much’

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday urged countries to exercise restraint amid the rising geopolitical tensions even as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Speaking for the first time at the United Nations General Assembly, Duterte said the world needs “stability and confidence” amid the global health crisis since “escalating tensions benefit no one.” 

The President did not mention the countries involved but the United States and China continued to trade barbs on several issues including tariffs, intellectual property, human rights, Taiwan, South China Sea dispute, and the spread of coronavirus. 

“New flashpoints heighten fears and tend to tear people apart. When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled flat,” he said. 

“Given the size and military might of the contenders, we can only imagine and be aghast at the terrible toll on human life and property that shall be inflicted if the ‘word war’ deteriorates into a real war of nuclear weapons and missiles.” 

Duterte added: “I therefore call on the stakeholders in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East and Africa: if we cannot be friends as yet, then in God’s name, let us not hate each other too much. I heard it once said, and I say it to myself in complete agreement.” 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said during the same event that the world should prevent a Cold War between the US and China.

“Our world cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a Great Fracture — each with its own trade and financial rules and internet and artificial intelligence capacities," Guterres said, without mentioning the two countries by name. 

In his speech, Duterte also thanked the UN peacekeepers, including the Filipino contingent, “who advance the cause of peace in the most difficult situations.”

“From the Golan Heights in the Middle East to Liberia in West Africa, Filipino peacekeepers put themselves in the frontlines between the vulnerable and those who seek harm,” he said. 

“We are committed to increasing the Philippine footprint in UN peacekeeping operations with increased participation of women,” Duterte said. —KG, GMA News