China emerges as the Philippines' new foreign ally after Manila's pullout from Iraq
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is scheduled to arrive in China today for a three-day state visit that is being seen as part of a fundamental shift in her foreign policy in the wake of the Iraq hostage affair.
During her first three years in office, Mrs Arroyo trumpeted her close ties with the United States as the key plank of her foreign policy. But her decision in July to withdraw troops from Iraq, to save the life of kidnapped truck driver Angelo de la Cruz, has soured ties with an angry Washington.
Mrs Arroyo's Beijing visit is being seen in Manila as a way for the Philippines to show it has other, powerful allies.
After the visit was announced, the foreign office sought to play down the dispute with the US and the widespread perception that Mrs Arroyo was playing 'the China card' as part of a counter-strategy.
Delia Albert, before she was replaced as foreign secretary, insisted that 'the meetings of the president [in China] have been planned way, way, way before the hostage- taking'.
However, palace sources said the state visit was firmed up only last month, after Washington's angry remarks about giving in to terrorism.