President Donald Trump lauded his "great relationship" with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, after meeting in Manila.
Trump arrived in the Philippines on Sunday for his first face-to-face meeting with Duterte, whose been accused of ordering thousands of extra-judicial killings in his war on drugs.
"The relationship appears to be very warm and very friendly," Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said after their meeting on Monday, Bloomberg reports. "They've been very candid in their dealings, and it's very apparent that both of them have a person who they consider as not their best friend. They have similar feelings toward former U.S. President Barack Obama."
Duterte previously called Obama a "son of a whore" for criticizing his brutal war on drug dealers and addicts, the body count for which is estimated at over 13,000 people by human rights activists, according to NPR.
"The conversation focused on ISIS, illegal drugs and trade. Human rights briefly came up in the context of the Philippines' fight against illegal drugs," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, according to CNN.
Trump continued to avoid questions of human rights while in Manila for the last stop on his tour of Asia, ignoring questions shouted by reporters.
"We are not answering, this is not a press statement . . . We are in a bilateral meeting," Duterte said to the reporters. "We will be discussing matters that are of interest to both the Philippines and (the US) . . . with you around, guys, you are the spies."
Trump laughed at Duterte's last remark, according to CNN and The New York Times.
Duterte said at a press conference last year that "just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you're a son of a bitch. You won't be killed if you don't do anything wrong," according to NBC News.
The White House said later that Trump and Duterte "briefly" discussed human rights. Duterte's spokesman offered a different account, saying that the topic of human rights "was not brought up."