TOKYO -- President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday assured Japan he did not strike any military deals with China, but said he was standing up to their common ally Washington for treating him like "a dog on a leash."

Duterte said his dealings during his four-day state visit in Beijing last week were purely "economic" and did not touch on security arrangements such as "stationing of troops."

"We avoided talking about alliances, military or otherwise. What happened really there is just a few platform where investments could come in," he told a business forum here.

Japan is concerned over Duterte's so-called pivot to its rival China and away from their traditional alliance with the United States.

Duterte was angered by the possibility that the Philippines might lose aid from Washington because of the rising number of drug-related killings under his watch.

"You know it's like saying I am a dog on a leash and if you don't stop biting the criminal, we will not throw the bread right under your mouth. We will throw it farther so that you'll have to travel to get it," he said.

"That is what America wants me to be--a dog barking for the crumbs of their favor."

Duterte said he would like to rid the country of "foreign military troops" in the next two years by revising or abrogating deals such as the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the US.

"If there's one thing I would like to prove to America and everyone else, there is such a thing as dignity of the Filipino people," he said.