Duterte sets another China visit

Duterte described Xi’s vaccine donation as a gesture of friendship and solidarity, which to him is the hallmark of the Philippine-China partnership

President Rodrigo Duterte might visit Beijing before his term ends to personally thank Chinese President Xi Jinping for donating 600,000 doses of China-made Covid-19 vaccines, Malacañang said Wednesday.

Duterte has earlier said he wants to express the nation’s gratitude “maybe at the end of the year when everything has settled down” to Xi for donating vaccine shots manufactured by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech Ltd., of which 100,000 shots are reserved for military personnel.

Presidential spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque admitted that he was unsure of what the Philippine leader meant, but assumed that it would be before Duterte steps down in June 2022.

“Of course, before he says goodbye to government service, he wants to visit China and thank President Xi,” Roque told radio station RMN.

Duterte, who has sought cordial ties with Beijing since assuming the presidency in 2016, attended on Sunday the arrival ceremony for the China-made vaccines, the first coronavirus shots to arrive in the Philippines.

Of course, before he says goodbye to government service, he wants to visit China and thank President Xi.

While launching tirades against the country’s long-time ally — the United States, the President has tip-toed on the maritime dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea as he sought the Chinese government’s support on his big-ticket infrastructure programs.

In his speech on Sunday, Duterte described Xi’s vaccine donation as a “gesture of friendship and solidarity,” which to him is the “hallmark” of the Philippine-China partnership.

Duterte later told reporters that he wanted to visit Xiamen, a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, to see the school building that was built in honor of his late mother.

“Maybe I’ll go to Xiamen. There’s a school built to honor my mother. You know, my mother was one of the first educators of the Chinese school in Davao,” he said.

Should Duterte’s planned trip pushes through, it would be his sixth visit to China since he was elected president.

Duterte’s last trip to China was in August 2019, when he invoked before Xi the Hague-based arbitration ruling which rejects China’s sweeping claims on the South China Sea.