Ex-Filipino diplomat: Duterte’s China shift a ‘national tragedy’

MANILA — A former top Filipino diplomat, who brought the triumphant arbitration case against China over territorial disputes, said Friday the Philippine president’s declaration to pivot away from Washington to Beijing should be regarded “a national tragedy.”

“The declared shift in foreign policy, casting aside a longtime reliable ally to hastily embrace an aggressive neighbor that vehemently rejects international law, is both unwise and incomprehensible,” said former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

The criticism by del Rosario, a respected Asian diplomat, is among the strongest so far of President Rodrigo Duterte’s publicly declared policy to back away from America, his country’s longtime treaty ally, while reaching out to China and Russia.