duterte hasek pressed hope for improved relations with china to secure economic assistance. duterte made the comments on thursday in beijing at a meeting of business leaders. >> i announce my separation from the united states. both the military but economics also. >> that comment created shock waves in both the u.s. and the philippines. a spokesperson for the u.s. state department says washington will seek an explanation from manila. on friday philippine officials tried to explain. >> the united states -- [ inaudible ]. >> what the we are really going to do is to leave our economic relations from the west. >> the chinese foreign ministry gave a restrained response. >> translator: concerning the international relations of this age, we should not have a kind of cold war mindset. in other words, we shouldn't change sides according to which one is the winner or loser. we hope that all countries concerned will respect each other and work on deepening their friendly relations. >> duterte met with his chinese counterpart xi jinping on thursday. in a joint statement released on frida