China and the Philippines signed 29 agreements on the first day of Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit there from November 20 to 21. The agreements ranged from trade and finance to agriculture and infrastructure, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Among these agreements is a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative.
Lucio Pitlo III, a professor at Ateneo de Manila University, said he thought this would promote the Philippines' "Build, Build, Build" initiative, which is one of President Rodrigo Duterte's flagship programs, aimed at accelerating infrastructure spending and developing industries to create jobs.
“China, particularly the Belt and Road Initiative will help about 30 percent of the projects outlined for the ‘Build, Build, Build' program. That goes to show how significant the China role is,” he said.
“The Philippines is the ninth country in ASEAN to sign the MoU with China, which means in the coming years our future cooperation will be based on the Belt and Road Initiative framework. That's important for the two countries,” said Luo Yongkun, associate professor at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.
Luo pointed out that China and the Philippines have upgraded their relationship to "comprehensive strategic cooperation," which contrasts sharply with the situation before 2016, when Sino-Filipino ties were harmed by the South China Sea issue.
”If we have strong political mutual trust, we can do everything we want in the South China Sea, especially in oil and gas exploitation,” he added.
A busy Manila highway. /VCG Photo
The MoU on oil and gas development also attracted comment. “I was surprised to see it among the agreements,” said Lucio Pitlo III, ”considering quite strong domestic pressure here telling the government to slow down in terms of efforts to pursue cooperation with China in relation to the disputed sea.”
He thought with the signing of the MoU, “the framework would allow both sides to set aside their disputes and pursue practical cooperation.”
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