by Lucio Pitlo III, Originally Posted at CGTN, August 30, 2019

Economics and security issues are on the agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte’s fifth visit to Beijing. The number of visits he has made thus far is indicative of the importance he attaches to the burgeoning bilateral relations.

China has become the Philippines’ largest trade partner since 2016, its largest investor last year and is expected to be the country’s largest inbound tourism market this year.

China is also becoming an important partner in developing the Philippines’ infrastructure. This said, territorial and maritime disputes continue to haunt ties and cross-border crimes, like drug trafficking, fraud and money laundering, raise the salience of police cooperation.

On the economic front, Philippine agricultural exports, such as bananas and other tropical fruits, gained greater market access to China. However, domestic production is hampered by the lack of scale due to constraints in the purchase of land and inefficient farming practices.

China has been supporting a hybrid rice center at the Central Luzon State University in the country’s main island. Mechanization, agro-industry processing, packaging and value-added agri-product diversification represent areas for future cooperation. Read more…