But you would never guess that from listening to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Since taking office in June 2016, Duterte has unleashed an aggressive campaign against

the United States, threatening to halt joint military exercises and even calling President

Obama a quote ‘son of a whore’.

Duterte said bilateral ties are no longer benefitting the Philippines, and that he plans

to [quote] ‘break up with America’.

So what led up to this point?

How did their relationship get so complicated?

Well, ties between the US and the Philippines largely stem back to the late 1800’s.

At the time, the Philippines was a colony of Spain, and was fighting for independence.

When American troops arrived during the Spanish-American War, Philippine rebel troops fought alongside

them, eventually defeating the Spanish in 1898.

However instead of granting the Philippines’ freedom, the US claimed it as its own territory,

and declared war against Philippine revolutionary forces.

American troops killed hundreds of thousands of philippine civilians in a series of alleged

war crimes.

In one particularly heinous instance, US troops ransacked a residential area killing ‘anyone

who was more than 10 years old.’

After three years of fighting, the US won, and placed the Philippines under a civilian

government.

And over time, the Philippine’s attitude toward the US significantly improved, as the

US fostered economic development and introduced public education, elections and social programs.

By the mid 1930’s, the Philippines had become largely autonomous, and the US agreed to grant

it full independence within a decade.

However those plans were interrupted with World War 2, during which Japan invaded and

occupied the Philippines.

American and Philippine troops jointly defeated the Japanese and, in 1946, the Philippines

gained full independence.

Around the same time, it signed a mutual defence treaty with the US, part of which allowed

the country to maintain more than a dozen military bases there.

Today, the US and the Philippines are largely tied together by their shared adversary: China.

The Philippines and China both hold claims on the resource-rich South China Sea, and,

in the last several years, China has aggressively pursued island-building on these territories.

Feeling threatened by China’s land-grabbing, the Philippines has allowed the US to increase

its military presence in the country, including naval and aerial patrols.

In general, there is a tremendous amount of goodwill between the two countries.

According to a 2015 Pew Poll, the Philippines is the most pro-America country in the world,

with 92 percent of its population viewing the US favorably.

Experts say this is, in part, because so many Filipinos have immigrated to the US over the

last century.

There are an estimated four million Filipino-Americans, making them the one of the largest Asian minority

populations.

The US has a pointed interest in keeping this relationship strong, as the Obama Administration

continues its strategic effort to bolster diplomatic and security ties with its Asian

allies.

However President Duterte’s direct insults of Obama and threats to end the US and Philippine

defense partnership could mark a new chapter in their complicated history.