US military, China’s economy: Philippines plays it both ways with Duterte’s VFA U-turn

Name: Philippines sounds alarm over 200 Chinese ships in the South China Sea
Uploaded: 2021-08-14T01:45:17.000Z
Duration: 2 min 37 s
Description: Philippines sounds alarm over 200 Chinese ships in the South China Sea

After years of anti-American vitriol and repeated threats to scrap a deal that allows US troops to operate in the country, the Philippine leader has seemingly turned on a dime

Washington may think he’s ‘full of hot air’, but analysts see a deeper game as Manila balances its security needs in the South China Sea with its post-pandemic economic interests

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US Marines on a joint exercise with Filipino troops in Zambales province, Philippines. Photo: Reuters

Alan Robles

Published: 9:45am, 14 Aug 2021Updated: 4:00pm, 14 Aug 2021

It was an anticlimactic and – to many minds – entirely predictable outcome: on July 30 the Philippines announced it would, after all, retain a long-standing military pact with the United States.

During a meeting in Manila with his American counterpart Lloyd Austin, Philippine defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana said President Rodrigo Duterte had decided to renew, not scrap, the 23-year-old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

It was a 180-degree turn for Duterte, who in an outburst in February last year vowed to terminate the VFA, a legal framework that makes it possible for US troops to operate and train in the Philippines.

That outburst was entirely consistent with the vehement anti-Americanism Duterte has shown since he came to power in 2016. He has called the former US president Barack Obama a “son of a whore”, said the US should “go to hell” and referred to the US ambassador as bakla (“gay”). In October 2016 he went to Beijing where he announced his “separation from the US” in favour of China, telling Filipinos that Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative to boost global connectivity would benefit them, and complement his own Build Build Build infrastructure programme. He scaled back Philippine participation in military exercises with the US and stopped joint patrols.

But about nine months before the Philippines elects a new leader – the constitution does not allow Duterte to run again for the top job although he is reportedly considering running as vice-president – questions are brewing about whether Duterte’s China policies have brought the promised benefits. Meanwhile, Chinese encroachment on Philippine maritime territory continues to fuel public anger.

It was this encroachment, according to analysts, along with the Philippines’ close military ties with the US that had made Duterte stick with the VFA after all.

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Philippines sounds alarm over 200 Chinese ships in the South China Sea

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