China's Xi visits Philippines to deepen ties with US ally
MANILA, Philippines - Chinese President Xi Jinping received a redcarpet welcome in the Philippines on Tuesday, as he paid his first visit to the U.S. treaty ally with offers of infrastructure loans and new accords to prevent clashes and possibly explore for oil and gas in the disputed South China Sea.
Xi was met by top officials as a military brass band played in Manila, the last stop in a three-nation swing through Asia in which he's offering infrastructure loans and aid and championing free trade in a rivalry for influence with the United States.
Classes were suspended in Manila and thousands of police were deployed to secure the overnight visit of Xi, who Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte once called "a great president." More than 300 protesters with placards that read "Philippines not for sale" and "Hands off our land and seas" rallied in front of the Chinese Consulate in Manila.
Xi's visit to the Philippines is the first by a Chinese president in 13 years.
"We have reopened the door of friendship and cooperation ... bringing real benefits to our peoples and making an important contribution to regional peace, stability and prosperity," Xi said in a statement issued after his arrival.
Beijing's relations with Manila stagnated over long-seething territorial rifts in the South China Sea until Duterte won the presidency in mid-2016 and rebuilt ties with China while often pillorying U.S. security policies in a dramatic pivot. The administration of Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, brought the disputes with China over the strategic waterway to international arbitration and won, but China has ignored the outcome.
Duterte has refused to immediately demand Chinese compliance to the landmark ruling, which invalidated China's sweeping claims to the waters, where Beijing has transformed a string of disputed reefs into missile-protected island bases.
Duterte's rapprochement has fostered a new era of warming relations with the Asian economic powerhouse, with which he has sought trade and investment, infrastructure financing and weapons to fight insurgents. While Western governments have sharply criticized Duterte's brutal crackdown against illegal drugs, China has not. Both Xi and Duterte have often been in the crosshairs of human rights groups.
After a wreath-laying ceremony at the monument of Philippine national hero Jose Rizal in a Manila seaside park that was cordoned off by police, Xi and his entourage will meet Duterte and top Philippine officials later Tuesday at the nearby Malacanan presidential palace.
Two Philippine officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Duterte's administration would likely sign a memorandum of understanding to support Beijing's "Belt and Road Initiative," an ambitious infrastructure loan program that has been criticized by the United States as endangering debtor nations to debt bondage and could compromise their independence.
Xi has denied the Chinese loans could lead to "foreign debt trap."