United States President Barack Obama on Wednesday exchanged pleasantries with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, two days after the later used abusive language against the American leader in a televised message, reported The New York Times. Their official meeting planned for Tuesday was called off over the derogatory remark. The leaders met while they were waiting in a holding room to enter a gala dinner at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos.

In a statement, the White House said, "Obama had a brief discussion with President Duterte before the ASEAN Gala Dinner in the leaders' hold space. The exchange consisted of pleasantries between the two." Philippine foreign secretary Perfecto Yasay also confirmed the brief encounter.

In a televised news conference in Davao City on Monday, Duterte warned Obama not to challenge him over the alleged “extrajudicial killings” of drug dealers in Philippines and called him a "son of a bitch." He said, "I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people." Duterte also blamed the United States for the crisis in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao. Later, however, he expressed regret for for what came across as a "personal attack" on Obama.