Opinion | Scepticism rises in Philippines about Chinese projects and Duterte’s support of them
- Concerns are growing, especially within the military, that large-scale Chinese investment is a Trojan horse
- Over the past year, several top Philippine officials have publicly complained about the backlog in promised Chinese projects
In Virgil’s Aeneid, the Trojan priest Laocoon warns: “Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks, even bringing gifts.” Amid the blossoming Philippine-China relations, many Filipinos, long accustomed to seeing Beijing as a hostile power, have turned into modern Laocoons.
There are deep worries, especially among those from the defence establishment, that large-scale Chinese investments are nothing but a Trojan horse with dire consequences for the Philippines. But as President Rodrigo Duterte slides into his twilight years in office, much-delayed Chinese infrastructure investments have gained steam.
Eager to vindicate his China-friendly foreign policy, the Philippine leader has fast-tracked big-ticket Chinese projects despite stiff domestic resistance. And Chinese companies – uncertain about post-Duterte political winds in the Philippines’ notoriously mercurial democracy, where pro-American and pro-Chinese camps constantly jostle for power – seem intent on finalising strategic investments before time runs out.
The biggest of them all is the recently awarded US$10 billion international airport project in Sangley, which lies close to strategic military and civilian facilities. If completed, it would mark the largest and among the most strategic Chinese investments in the Philippines’ history.
Over the past year, top Philippine officials have been publicly complaining about the backlog in promised Chinese investments. During a speech at Asia Society in New York in September, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr groused that “we signed up [to] this and that agreement [with China], but they hardly materialised”.