Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Wednesday that a tirade against US President Barack Obama, in which he referred to the US leader with an expletive, came across as a personal attack.
Longtime allies the US and the Philippines have seen relations plunge under a barrage of insults from Duterte since he came to office on June 30.
The latest Duterte outburst came on Monday before a planned meeting between the leaders at a regional summit in Laos.
Obama responded to the outburst by cancelling the talks, which prompted a Duterte to offer a qualified expression of regret.
"While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," a statement released by Duterte said.
The 71-year-old former prosecutor was referring to his remarks on Monday, when he warned he would not be lectured by Obama over concerns about a brutal war on drug crime that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in the Philippines.
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