World

MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday he had detected increasing US hostility towards Moscow and complained about what he said was a series of aggressive US steps that threatened Russia’s national security.

In an interview with Russian state TV likely to worsen already poor relations with Washington, Lavrov made it clear he blamed the Obama administration for what he described as a sharp deterioration in US-Russia ties.

“We have witnessed a fundamental change of circumstances when it comes to the aggressive Russophobia that now lies at the heart of US policy towards Russia,” Lavrov told Russian state TV’s First Channel.

“It’s not just a rhetorical Russophobia, but aggressive steps that really hurt our national interests and pose a threat to our security.”

 With relations between Moscow and Washington strained over issues from Syria to Ukraine, Lavrov reeled off a long list of Russian grievances against the United States which he said helped contribute to an atmosphere of mistrust that was in some ways more dangerous and unpredictable than the Cold War.

He complained that NATO had been steadily moving military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders and lashed out at Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis.

He also said he had heard that some policy makers in Washington were suggesting that President Barack Obama sanction the carpet bombing of the Syrian government’s military air fields to ground its air force.

“This is a very dangerous game given that Russia, being in Syria at the invitation of the legitimate government of this country and having two bases there, has got air defence systems there to protect its assets,” said Lavrov.

Lavrov said he hoped Obama would not agree to such a scenario.

Russia suspended a treaty with Washington on cleaning up weapons grade plutonium earlier this month in response to what it said were “unfriendly acts” by the United States.

Lavrov said both countries had the right to pull out of the treaty in the event of “a fundamental change in circumstances”.

“The treaty was concluded when relations were normal, civilised, when no one... was trying to interfere in the [other’s] internal affairs. That’s the fundamental change of circumstances,” said Lavrov.

WASHINGTON — Republican Donald Trump on Sunday struck a defiant tone in the face of calls for him to abandon the US presidential race, attacking prominent Republicans and saying he has “tremendous support” despite a storm over vulgar comments he made about women.

On a day in which Trump was due to debate Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and with a month to go to the November 8 election, Trump took to social media to try to squelch any speculation that he could leave the race.

“Tremendous support [except for some Republican leadership]. Thank you,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“So many self-righteous hypocrites. Watch their poll numbers — and elections — go down!” Trump tweeted, apparently referring to those Republicans who have withdrawn support for his candidacy over a 2005 video that emerged on Friday.

A string of Republican senators, in reaction to the revelations in the video, withdrew their support of Trump, with some advising Trump to drop out of the race.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Trump adviser, warned in appearances on Sunday talk shows that at the debate, Trump would not rule out going on the offensive by bringing up her husband Bill Clinton’s past infidelities.

The 2005 video showed Trump, then a reality TV star speaking on an open microphone about groping women and trying to seduce a married woman. The video was taped only months after Trump married his third wife, Melania.

Interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, Giuliani said both presidential contenders were flawed but that Trump feels he owes it to his supporters to stay in the race.

“He obviously feels very bad about what he said, he’s apologised for it,” Giuliani said. “What he’d like to do is move on to the issues that are facing the American people.” 

Republicans have attacked Hillary Clinton, 68, over what they say is her role in trying to discredit women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct decades ago.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, interviewed on “Fox News Sunday”, called the Trump remarks captured on video “disgusting”, adding, “This is who this guy is”. 

Trump, 70, is facing the biggest crisis of his 16-month-old campaign. The pressure on him will be intense at the 9pm EDT (0100 GMT) debate at Washington University in St Louis. Sources told CNN the first questions would be about the uproar.

It is the second of three scheduled presidential debates as the long-running US election contest enters its final weeks.

Trump already had an uphill battle to win the White House.

Before the video surfaced, a Reuters/Ipsos poll had Clinton leading by five points on Friday. Now, the question is whether Trump’s quest for the presidency has been dealt a lethal blow.

Earlier setbacks

Trump has survived a string of setbacks during this grueling campaign and is hoping that he can again recover.

A new public opinion poll by POLITICO/Morning consult, taken just after news of the video broke, found that 39 per cent of voters thought Trump should withdraw from the race; 45 per cent said he should stay.

But his support among Republicans was largely holding, according to the poll, which found that of those who said Trump should leave, only 12 per cent identified themselves as Republicans.

The 2016 elections are about more than the race for the presidency. The video renewed Republican worries that Trump’s problems could hurt party efforts to retain majority control of the US Senate and House of Representatives.

“There is full-on panic” about the Senate elections, said a senior Senate Republican aide, who asked not to be identified.

The Democratic Coalition Against Trump, the nation’s largest grassroots anti-Trump organisation, released a new attack ad that centred on the 2005 video.

Scott Dworkin, the group’s senior adviser, said, “We aim to target this ad in competitive House and Senate districts of elected Trump supporters, current or former.”

 The possibility of Trump abandoning his quest for the White House, however remote, raised questions about the handling of ballots already cast, such as those from soldiers overseas, the elderly who cannot go to the polls and college students living away from home.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile said the party would likely challenge any effort by Republicans to replace Trump as their candidate on the ballot, adding that it would be “very confusing” for voters with early ballots already being cast.

On Saturday, some prominent Republicans suggested that Trump withdraw from the race and be replaced by vice presidential running mate Mike Pence.

Pence, who said he could not defend Trump’s comments on women, said on Saturday that Trump needs to show contrition during the debate.

“We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation,” Pence said in a statement.

Republican US House Speaker Paul Ryan was heckled by Trump supporters at a rally in his congressional district in Wisconsin on Saturday, after having disinvited Trump following the release of the recording of Trump making lewd remarks.

“You better back Trump!” they yelled. “You turned your back on him!” “Shame on you!”

SEOUL — Analysis published on Sunday of recent satellite images fuelled concerns that North Korea may be on the brink of another nuclear test or long-range rocket launch.

Speculation that Pyongyang is preparing such a show of force has been linked to Monday's anniversary of the founding of the North's ruling Workers' Party.

Past nuclear tests and missile launches have often coincided with key political dates. Its fifth nuclear test last month was conducted on the anniversary of North Korea's founding as a state.

 The latest satellite imagery analysis posted by the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University noted increased activity at the North's Sohae Satellite Launch Station.

The pictures taken on October 1 showed crates on the launch pad next to the gantry tower, vehicles near the fuel and oxidiser buildings, and work continuing on the facility's vertical engine test stand.

"However, since both the gantry tower and the assembly structures on the launch pad are covered, it is unclear whether this activity is related to launch preparations or other operations," the analysts noted.

Two days ago, the institute had posted similarly dated images of the North's nuclear test site that showed activity at all three of its tunnel complexes.

But again its analysts could not be certain if the activity was related to an imminent test or other work.

Sunday marked 10 years to the day that North Korea carried out its first nuclear test on October 9, 2006 — an underground detonation with such a low yield that it was widely seen as a failure.

But the North's weapons programme has progressed in leaps and bounds since then — despite rounds of increasingly tough international sanctions — and has notably accelerated under current leader Kim Jong-un.

Since taking power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il in late 2011, Kim has overseen three nuclear tests — two of them in this year alone.

Each has shown a significant level of progression, with September's fifth test the largest to date, and Pyongyang also claims it has mastered the miniaturisation technique to fit a nuclear warhead on the tip of a missile.

The final goal of the North's programme is a credible nuclear strike capability against the US mainland.

While most experts don't believe it is there yet, they generally agree that the level of bomb and missile testing — especially over the past year — has brought it much closer.

The North carried out its last successful satellite rocket launch in February — a month after its fourth nuclear test. 

Pyongyang insists such launches are purely scientific, but the international community has condemned them as disguised ballistic missile tests.

Last month, North Korea successfully tested a new, high-powered rocket engine, a move Seoul said was designed to showcase its progress towards being able to target the US east coast.

And in August it carried out its most successful test to date of a submarine-launched ballistic missile that would allow deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula.

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla./CHARLESTON, S.C — Hurricane Matthew’s winds diminished on Saturday as it headed towards the Carolinas after killing almost 900 people in Haiti and causing major flooding and widespread power outages in the southeastern United States.

The storm, which left flooding and wind damage in Florida, was soaking coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday, but packing a diminished punch. Wind speeds had dropped to less than 136km per hour making it a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on the Saffir-Simpson scale of 1 to 5.

At least four deaths in Florida were attributed to the storm, which knocked out power to least 1.5 million households and businesses in the southeastern United States.

In Florida, 775,000 are still without power, according to state utilities, while in South Carolina 433,000 had no power, Governor Nikki Haley said. Georgia Power said at least 275,000 were without power in the state.

Roads in Jackson Beach were littered with wood, including sections of a historic quarter-mile-long pier, and
15cm water clogged some intersections. Moderate damage could be seen on beachfront businesses, with fences and awnings torn down.

“We rode out the storm. It wasn’t this bad at our house, but here there’s a lot of damage,” said Zowi Cuartas, 18, as he watched people pick up shattered wooden signs knocked down by the wind and waves near the beach. “We were prepared to lose our house.”

 Streets in downtown Charleston were flooding on Saturday morning up to the tops of tires on some cars. At the High Battery at Charleston peninsula’s tip, waves were close to topping the sea wall with spray splashing onto East Bay Street.

“It blew like hell,” said resident and writer Roger Pinckney, 70.

The toll in the United States was far less devastating than in Haiti, where at least 877 people were killed, a death toll that ticked up as information trickled in from remote areas, according to a Reuters tally of tolls from officials.

Matthew rampaged through Haiti’s western peninsula on Tuesday with 233kph winds and torrential rain. Some 61,500 people were in shelters, officials said, after the storm hurled the sea into fragile coastal villages.

The Mesa Verde, a US Navy amphibious transport dock ship, was en route to Haiti to support relief efforts. The ship has heavy-lift helicopters, bulldozers, fresh-water delivery vehicles and two surgical operating rooms.

Four killed in Forida

The NHC predicted the storm would possibly be striking the US coast on Saturday morning or afternoon.

“Regardless of whether or not the centre makes landfall, hurricane-force winds in the northern eyewall will lash much of the coast of South Carolina,” an NHC advisory said.

Matthew sideswiped Florida’s coast with winds of up to 195kph but did not make landfall there.

Governors in several states held news conferences on Saturday morning, including Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory warned that storm surges and high winds could cause serious problems. He said he was “extremely concerned” that the hurricane downgrade will cause residents not to take warnings seriously.

Forecasters warned of flooding as 40cm of rain were expected to fall in parts of the region along with massive storm surges and high tides.

Some 20cm of rain had fallen in the Savannah, Georgia area where Matthew downed trees and caused flooding.

Though gradually weakening, Matthew — which triggered mass evacuations along the US coast — was forecast to remain a hurricane until it begins moving away from the US Southeast coast on Sunday, according to the NHC.

President Barack Obama and officials urged people to heed safety instructions.

As the storm moved north, Florida officials urged residents who had evacuated not to rush back to homes that still lacked power on streets clogged with debris.

“You are going to continue to see some flooding, damage and power outages,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry told reporters on Saturday, adding that the roads into the beach area would be reopened to residents around noon.

SRINAGAR, India — Indian forces fired shotgun pellets and tear gas on Saturday as thousands of people carried the body of a 12-year-old boy killed overnight during an anti-India protest in the main city of the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Chanting "Go India, go back" and "We want freedom", thousands of residents marched to the main Martyr's Graveyard in Srinagar for the boy's burial. Police and paramilitary soldiers fired warning shots, pellets and tear gas, fearing the procession could become a larger rally calling for an end to Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan region, said a police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with department policy.

Some tear gas shells landed near the mourners carrying the body, which was draped in a Pakistani flag with pro-freedom slogans written on it.

Clashes broke out as hundreds of young men hurled rocks at the troops while another group of mourners changed route to bury the dead. Clashes also spread to at least four other neighbourhoods in downtown Srinagar, with scores reported injured.

The boy was critically injured on Friday evening after he was hit by shotgun pellets all over his body. He died at a hospital overnight.

Residents said the boy was hit inside his home compound, some 9 metres from clashes between protesters and government forces. Police said he was part of the clashes.

At least 50 people were injured during dozens of clashes Friday as tens of thousands of Kashmiris protested against Indian rule.

Government forces continued firing shotguns to disperse angry crowds despite repeated warnings from India's home ministry to minimise their use in addition to widespread outcry against such weapons by local and international rights groups that have sought their ban. The pellets have killed at least six people and left hundreds of civilians with serious eye injuries, with dozens losing their eyesight.

Meanwhile, a police official was killed after suspected rebels fired at a police post in the region.

Police official Reyaz Ahmed said Saturday that a group of militants appeared on the outskirts of the southern Shopian town overnight and tried to snatch weapons from a police bunker. He said the rebels sprayed gunfire after police resisted, leaving a policeman dead and two others wounded.

The violence came as Kashmir is experiencing its largest protests against Indian rule in recent years, sparked by the killing in July of a popular rebel commander by Indian soldiers.

The protests, and a sweeping military crackdown, have all but paralysed life in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

More than 80 civilians have been killed and thousands injured, with hundreds among them blinded and maimed, mostly by government forces firing bullets and shotgun pellets at rock-throwing protesters. Two policemen have also been killed and hundreds of government forces injured in the clashes.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in its entirety. Most people in the Indian-controlled portion favour independence or a merger with Pakistan.

A militant uprising and subsequent Indian military crackdown since 1989 have killed more than 68,000 people.

KAPITAN ANDREEVO, Bulgaria —  The EU launched its beefed-up border force Thursday in a rare show of unity by the squabbling bloc as it seeks to tackle its worst migration crisis since World War II.

European Union officials inaugurated the new task force at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the main land frontier for migrants seeking to enter the bloc and avoid the dangerous Mediterranean sea crossing.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG) will have at its disposal some 1,500 officers from 19 member states who can be swiftly mobilised in case of an emergency, like a sudden surge of migrants.

Brussels hopes the revamped agency will not just increase security, but also help heal the huge rifts that have emerged between member states clashing over the EU’s refugee policies. 

The long-term goal is to lift border controls inside the bloc and fully restore the passport-free Schengen Zone.

“The new agency is stronger and better equipped to tackle migration and security challenges,” EBCG director Fabrice Leggeri said at the launch.

The force will also conduct stress tests at the bloc’s external borders to “identify vulnerabilities before a crisis hits”, he added.

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos hailed the launch as a “historical day for the European Union”.

“From now onwards, the external EU border of one member state is the external border of all member states — both legally and operationally,” he said.

“Countries like Bulgaria, Greece and Italy are still under pressure, but they are not alone.”

As part of its expanded mandate, the EBCG will be involved in the repatriation of migrants who have their asylum claims rejected or are considered a security threat.

Its new coast guard unit will also “play a key role at Europe’s maritime borders”, Leggeri said.

A growing number of desperate people attempt the treacherous sea journey from North Africa to Italy, after the so-called Balkan migrant trail was shut earlier this year.

More than 3,500 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean so far this year, latest figures show.

Caught off guard 

All 28 member states agreed on the creation of the new border agency earlier this year.

The boosted force is an expansion of Frontex, founded in 2004 to help coordinate Europe-wide efforts to combat people smuggling and illegal migration.

But the Warsaw-based agency proved inefficient last year when it was caught off guard by the hundreds of thousands of people who began trekking up from Greece across the western Balkans towards northern Europe.

With limited staffing and powers, Frontex was unable to effectively patrol the EU’s external borders, including those of frontline countries Greece and Italy where most migrants enter. The relaunched agency will have an annual budget of 320 million euros ($358 million).

The uncontrolled arrival of well over 1 million people, many fleeing war in Syria, triggered chaos on the continent, prompting key transit nations along the migrant trail to seal their borders with fences.

The influx also heightened tensions inside the bloc, with eastern and central European nations lambasting Germany’s “open-door” policy which they say allowed Islamists to pose as refugees and help carry out attacks inside Europe.

‘Buffer state’ 

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov on Thursday warned that the EU had become “an assortment of jumbled fences”.

“We do not want turn Europe into a fortress, but we want to turn it into a well regulated system,” he said.

Bulgaria has built a barbed-wire fence that will soon cover most of its 259-kilometre border with Turkey.

Just 13,000 migrants remain stranded inside Bulgaria compared to the 60,000 stuck in Greece and the 140,000 who have crossed the Mediterranean to Italy so far this year. 

But with Bulgaria’s migrant centres overflowing, EU’s poorest member is still worried it will become a “buffer state” if a shaky EU deal with Ankara breaks down after the July coup attempt.

Turkey is home to 3 million migrants who have fled the devastating war in neighbouring Syria.

“Turkey has to remain a strategic partner for us. No other country can deal with this number of migrants,” Borisov said.

SRINAGAR, India — Indian soldiers shot dead three suspected militants who tried to raid an army base in northern Kashmir on Thursday, police said, the latest in a wave of attacks that has raised tension with neighbouring Pakistan.

In a sign of how fraught relations have become, Pakistan’s military chief lashed out against India on Thursday and warned that Pakistan would react strongly against any aggression.

The three suspected militants were found in an orchard near the army base in Kupwara district near the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides Muslim-majority Kashmir between India and Pakistan, which both claim the Himalayan region.

Police superintendent Ghulam Jeelani said the attackers engaged in heavy firing with soldiers before they retreated from the base, the second to be attacked in days in northern Kashmir.

The attack came as India and Pakistan exchanged more gunfire across the frontier in Kashmir, despite a 2003 ceasefire, setting off panic among residents in border areas.

Tension has escalated since last week, when India announced its special forces had carried out a strike against militants camped on the Pakistan side of Kashmir and inflicted significant casualties.

Pakistan denied such a strike had taken place and accuses India of fabricating the raids to give Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a domestic political boost.

“Any aggression, born out of deliberate intent or even a strategic miscalculation, will not be allowed to go unpunished and will be met with the most befitting response,” said General Raheel Sharif, the head of Pakistan’s military.

“While Pakistan wants good relations with all its neighbours, no one should make any mistakes about our collective resolve to defend our motherland,” he said.

The latest round of tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours began in July when violent protests against the Indian military erupted in Indian-ruled Kashmir after Indian forces killed a separatist guerrilla leader.

India accuses Pakistan of backing the militants and of infiltrating them into Indian Kashmir. Pakistan denies that saying it only offers moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their campaign for self-determination.

Tension increased sharply when militants killed 19 Indian soldiers in a raid on an army camp on September 18, the heaviest toll in nearly two decades.

India said the attackers had come from Pakistan but it demanded credible proof.

On Wednesday night, militants from Pakistan unsuccessfully tried to breach the Line of Control at two points in the Nowgam sector and one at Rampur, an Indian army spokesman said.

Another army officer said: “Troops were on alert and fired at the infiltrators, they fled back to Pakistan. A search has been launched.”

 The two sides traded artillery fire across the Line of Control in Nowshera, Pallanwala and Mendhar sections overnight, the Indian army said.

Pakistan said India initiated the shelling, which has often increases along the Line of Control during periods of tension.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s powerful army chief lashed out at India on Thursday, warning that any act of aggression from New Delhi would not go unpunished as tensions spike between the two countries over the divided region of Kashmir.

Gen. Raheel Sharif in a televised speech said Pakistan’s armed forces will react with a “befitting response” to such a move.

“Pakistan is a responsible country and remains committed to follow the policy of friendship with all other countries based on the principles of equality and mutual respect. While doing so, the armed forces of Pakistan remain fully prepared to give the most befitting response to any kind of internal and external threat posed to our nation,” he said.

Sharif also asked the international community to condemn what he called India’s “insinuations and fabrications” about Pakistan, adding that Islamabad has made “unparalleled contributions in the global fight against terrorism”.

 His remarks came more than a week after New Delhi launched a cross-border attack that it claimed had destroyed “terrorist launching pads” used by Pakistan-backed militants. Pakistan said the attack killed two Pakistani soldiers.

Kashmir, split between Pakistan and India, is claimed in its entirety by both nuclear-armed neighbours.

UNITED NATIONS — Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres is poised to become the next United Nations Secretary-General after none of the five UN Security Council veto powers voted against him in a sixth secret ballot on Wednesday, diplomats said.

The 15-member Security Council cast secret ballots for each of the 10 candidates with the choices of encourage, discourage or no opinion. Guterres received 13 encourage votes and two no opinion votes.

“Today after our sixth straw poll we have a clear favorite and his name is Antonio Guterres,” Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters with his 14 council colleagues standing behind him.

“We have decided to go to a formal vote tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock, and we hope it can be done by acclamation,” said Churkin, who is council president for October.

For Guterres to be formally recommended to the 193-member General Assembly for election, the Security Council still needs to adopt a resolution behind closed doors. The resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes to pass.

WASHINGTON — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte would face major obstacles to following through on his threat to reduce purchases of US weapons in favor of Russian and Chinese arms, including re-training a military deeply accustomed to working with the United States, experts said on Tuesday.

Duterte said in speeches in Manila on Tuesday that the United States did not want to sell missiles and other weapons to the Philippines, but that Russia and China had told him they could provide them easily.

His comments were the latest in a near-daily barrage of hostility toward the United States that has raised questions about the long-standing alliance that is important to the US strategy of rebalancing its forces toward Asia and countering an assertive China.

Angered by US expressions of concern over his war on drugs, Duterte has called President Barack Obama a "son of a bitch", threatened to call off joint military exercises with Washington and started to contrast the former colonial power with its geopolitical rivals Russia and China.

US officials have downplayed Duterte's remarks, focusing instead on the decades-long alliance which they have sought to bolster in recent years in response to China's moves to enforce its claims over the South China Sea. The White House said on Tuesday the United States had not received any formal communications from Duterte's government about changing the relationship.

The United States is the single largest provider of arms to the Philippines, according to figures maintained by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks military expenditures globally.

The two countries have become more intertwined militarily in the last two years, holding more exercises and training, and making more US ship and aircraft visits under President Barack Obama's shift of US military forces and diplomatic efforts toward Asia in the face of China's rise.

The Philippines is the largest recipient of US funds in the Asia-Pacific region under the Foreign Military Financing programme, which is provided by the United States to help countries purchase American-made weapons and equipment. It received $50 million under FMF in the 2015 fiscal year.

That dependence on US weapons and systems means the Philippine military would have to re-tool its command-and-control structure if it wanted to switch to Chinese or Russian systems, said Richard Javad Heydarian, a professor at De La Salle University in Manila and a former advisor to the Philippines House of Representatives.

"There will be some problems with configuration," Heydarian said. "It takes years for the Philippines' army to re-orient itself with new technology."

 The Philippines spent $3.9 billion on its military in 2015, according to SIPRI data. That spending has risen nearly every year since 2010, when it stood at $2.4 billion, the data show.

Deep ties

Though Russia in particular could offer high-quality weapons systems, the Philippines would have to take into account their interoperability with existing American stock, said Lyle Goldstein, an expert on Chinese maritime issues at the US Naval War College.

"You can't just buy a radar from this country and a missile from that country," Goldstein said. "The weaponry has to work together."

 He noted that many Philippine officers were educated in the United States, linking the countries' military cultures closely.

The military relationship between the United States and the Philippines goes well beyond arms sales, extending to training exercises and support for maintenance.

Russia and China do not have the same reputation of providing comprehensive training and support, said Amy Searight, until earlier this year the US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia.

"The United States is well known for being quite good at that full spectrum of support to build capabilities," said Searight, now with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "It's not just the weapons or the armaments or vehicles or equipment. It's using those to build real capabilities."

 Most likely, Duterte's aim is to signal to China that he is willing to tinker with existing US-Philippines military cooperation, even if on the margins, Heydarian said.

That might mean relocating the annual US-Philippines "Balikatan" military exercises away from the South China Sea, or refusing to further expand American military access to Philippine bases, he said.

Duterte could also be trying to strengthen his position in order to get better prices on military equipment from the United States, experts said. Russian and Chinese weapons are typically cheaper than American systems.