SE Asia faces huge drugs crisis: Duterte

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday warned Southeast Asian leaders they were facing a "massive" illegal drug menace that could destroy their societies, as he called for a united response.

Duterte, who has faced international condemnation for his own crackdown on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives, also insisted that outsiders should not interfere in Southeast Asia's affairs.

"The illegal drug trade is massive but it is not impregnable," Duterte said in a speech to open an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) leaders summit.

"With political will and cooperation, it can be dismantled. It can be destroyed before it destroys our societies."

Duterte urged the leaders to be "resolute in realising a drug-free Asean".

Duterte was elected last year largely on a law-and-order platform in which he promised to eradicate illegal drugs in the Philippines by killing tens of thousands of people.

His pledge proved wildly popular with millions of Filipinos looking for a quick solution to crime and corruption. Since Duterte took office 10 months ago, police have reported killing 2,724 people as part of his anti-drug campaign.

Many thousands of others have been killed by shadowy vigilantes, according to rights groups.

In his speech to Asean leaders, Duterte highlighted the bloc's tradition of "non-interference".

He did this while talking about relations with the United States and the European Union, which have expressed concern about alleged extrajudicial killings in his drug war.

"Dialogue relations can be made more productive, constructive if the valued principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of the ASEAN member-states is observed," Duterte said.

Among the heads of undemocratic regimes in Manila were Thai military junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Cambodia's Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge cadre, and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei.