MANILA – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vowed big reforms to tackle chronic economic flaws on Monday and defended his pursuit of a deadly anti-narcotics war, saying drugs were drowning his country and human rights were no excuse to shield criminals.

Just a month into his presidency, Duterte used his inaugural State of the Nation Address to warn the public to steer clear of drug use, the scale of which was “staggering and scary” and promised no relenting in his crackdown.

Nicknamed “the punisher” and “Duterte Harry” for his brutal fight against crime, Duterte hit back at activists incensed by a surge in the killing of suspected drug traffickers, saying human rights should protect dignity, not let criminals destroy the country. “There will be no let up in this campaign. Double your efforts. Triple them if need be,” Duterte said in a message in support of the police in his speech to a joint legislative session. “We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and the last pusher have surrendered or put behind bars. Or below the ground if they so wish.” Duterte did not mention the number of suspected drugs dealers killed during his efforts but police have logged 240 deaths related to the trade since he took office, although other estimates are higher.

He said 120,000 people had surrendered to police in the past month, and 70,000 were drug pushers. “The sheer number and problem will drown us,” he said.

Duterte was swept to power in May on a wave of public anti-establishment frustration over crime and poverty, winning 16 million votes and an approval rating of 91 percent, one of the highest recorded in the Philippines.

PROMISES ON PROBLEMS

His address was widely anticipated and the buildup dominated by promises by his aides of a rousing speech that would stir patriotism.

But, as has become typical of the Duterte’s unconventional style, after 30 minutes reading from a teleprompter, he started to ignore it and veered far off script, attracting both applause and laughter.

A speech expected to last approximately 40 minutes went on for one hour and 32 minutes.

The budget for his address, normally a top event on the social calendar of the country’s political and showbiz elite, was scaled back dramatically and Duterte told guests to dress down, reflecting his disdain for opulence and lavish spending.

He pledged to fix a host of economic problems that have been a blight for Filipinos and foreign investors alike, vowing a major overhaul of notoriously creaky infrastructure, with new roads, bridges and trains, and a speeding up of business applications.

He promised to introduce new technology to improve the country’s snail-paced internet and free public wi-fi, universal healthcare and the pursuit of an end to separatist conflicts, including a unilateral ceasefire with Maoist rebels.

He said the current policies that have spurred one of Asia’s fastest rates of economic growth would be continued and strengthened and he ordered the military to help tackle illegal logging and mining.

But he was noticeably brief in his remarks about a festering dispute with China over the South China Sea.

He welcomed a landmark July 12 arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s vast claims and said international law should be observed and solutions found for “peaceful resolution and management” of conflicts.

ULAANBAATAR – Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj is already at loggerheads with the new prime minister over cabinet appointments, raising the spectre of further instability as the economy slows and foreign investment declines.

In June, Elbegdorj’s Democratic Party lost a landslide parliamentary election to the Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) of former finance minister Jargaltulga Erdenebayar, who took over as prime minister this month.

The dispute centres on the prime minister’s appointments of two officials to oversee the mining industry and Mongolia’s debt that violate a presidential order to avoid conflicts of interest by not giving ministerial posts to members of parliament.

“The new government: I can’t say it’s professional,”Elbegdorj wrote on his official account on social media network Twitter on Monday, adding, “Money and power trump the rules.”

Foreign investment, led by the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine now run by Rio Tinto , powered a two-year economic boom in Mongolia from 2010, but growth has slumped because of slowing demand from neighbouring China, along with investor concerns about a surge in “resource nationalism”.

The officials figuring in the clash are Tsedev Dashdorj, a former oil company engineer appointed to oversee the mining industry, which attracts most of Mongolia’s foreign investment, and business tycoon and land developer Battogtokh Choijlsuren.

Nicknamed “speed” for his businesses, the latter will oversee Mongolia’s growing debt, which amounted to 66.3 percent of GDP in 2015, according to Fitch Ratings.

Mongolia’s legislature, the State Great Khural, worked into the early hours of Saturday before approving 11 of the prime minister’s 14 appointments.

The posts for energy, health, food and agriculture and industry, however, remained vacant amid concerns about conflicts of interest.

In 2014, the president proposed to ban the “Double Deel”, the practice of individuals holding multiple roles in government that is named for the traditional robes Mongolians wear, but parliament did not pass the bill.

BEIJING – Failure to properly handle sensitive issues between the US and China could “very likely disturb and undermine” their military-to-military relations, a top Chinese official told US National Security Advisor Susan Rice Monday.

Rice is the highest-level US official to visit the capital since an international tribunal this month rejected China’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea – infuriating Beijing and fuelling tensions with Washington.

Her trip is intended to prepare for a visit by President Barack Obama to a G20 summit in the city of Hangzhou in September.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 denied the legal basis for Beijing’s claim to nearly all of the sea, parts of which are also claimed by neighbouring nations.

In recent months Washington has sent naval vessels close to reefs and outcrops claimed by Beijing to assert the principle of freedom of navigation, sparking anger in China which has built a series of artificial islands capable of supporting military operations.

Despite tensions, the two countries have tried to improve communication between their militaries in hopes of minimising misunderstandings that could lead to conflict.

“We should be honest with ourselves that deep down in this relationship we’re still faced with obstacles and challenges,” Fan Changlong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, told Rice, adding that military ties had been “impacted by some complicated and some sensitive factors”.

“If we do not properly handle these factors it will very likely disturb and undermine this steady momentum of our military-to-military relationship,” he warned.

Rice noted that “risks of unintended consequences” of the two countries’ forces operating in ever-closer proximity had been reduced thanks to better communication and other confidence-building measures.

But despite progress, “we have challenges and differences to discuss and to manage”, she said.

At a meeting with State Councillor Yang Jiechi – China’s top foreign policy official – earlier in the day, Rice had called for “candour and openness” in facing such challenges and made positive remarks about US-China cooperation on climate change, global health issues and nonproliferation.

She is also scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping.

China rejected the tribunal ruling on the South China Sea as “waste paper” and asserted its right, if it chooses, to establish an Air Defence Identification Zone controlling flights over the area.

At a regional summit in Vientiane Monday Southeast Asian nations avoided rebuking Beijing or mentioning the ruling, in a joint statement seen as a victory for China.

Rice made no direct mention of the tribunal verdict. But the topic nonetheless looms large over her four-day trip, which also includes a stop in Shanghai to meet business leaders.

In opening remarks of his own, Yang said US-China relations this year had been “generally stable” and urged increased cooperation even in the face of disagreements.

BANGKOK – A gang of 100 marauding monkeys have become the latest saboteurs to target a referendum trumpeted by the Thai junta as a cure for the nation’s political crisis, after they tore down voter lists.

The primate rampage comes days after police charged two eight-year-old girls for ripping down voter lists elsewhere in the country, in a legal move that sparked incredulity.

The junta is going to increasingly bizarre lengths to quash dissent before the August 7 plebiscite on a new constitution, which the generals say will end political turmoil.

Criticism of the draft charter is punishable by up to 10 years in jail under a special law, a move which rights groups say has turned the vote into a sham.

Many activists see the charter as an attempt to perpetuate the military’s grip on power.

A series of ripped voter lists at polling stations around the country over the past week have strained the nerves of authorities, although the eight-year-olds are too young to face jail.

On Monday officials were forced to pin up new lists in the northern province of Phichit after around 100 macaque monkeys left the documents in tatters.

“They are naughty animals so they tore it down,” Prayoon Chakpacharakul, the director of the province’s election commission, told AFP.

News of the monkey business inspired social media wags, with some joking they were deployed by ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra – the junta’s nemesis.

A cartoon circulated on Facebook showed the self-exiled former premier feeding bananas to a troupe of monkeys as they gleefully tore into voter lists.