U.S. aims to keep alliance commitments to Philippines: Carter

ANKARA (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday that Washington intended to keep its alliance commitments to the Philippines, even after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced his "separation" from the United States. Asked about Duterte's declaration that he had realigned with China, Carter said: "We have important alliance commitments which we intend to keep in the Philippines. "Obviously any relationship is one of mutuality and we will continue to discuss that with our Philippine counterparts," he told reporters before landing in Turkey. "That’s not new today, but that’s our alliance relationship with the Philippines." (Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)