China’s one belt, one road initiative

be, military.

Just the other day, the European Union normally enjoyed by the Philippines from - cism of his deadly war on drugs. Earlier in the year, the United States withdrew its Challenge Fund, amounting to millions of dollars that are a main provider for the Side by side with these grants from the west, –actually investment - compare? Nothing much, as simple arithmetic will bear out. It is the collateral concessions the Philippines must make to the donor nation that truly count. In the case of the US, those concessions by the Philippines come mainly in the form of onerous military agreements, like the continuing Military Defense Agreement (MDA), the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). In this respect, China tops the US by many rungs -- it demands no such military strings attached for its aid. The EU, being a close ally of the US, necessarily gains also from these military agreements by which the Philippines is tied to the west, aside from other advantages it may on its own achieve for itself from relationship with the Philippines.

The question now boils down to what will the Philippines gain from its pivot from the west to China? Can China be as benevolent to the Philippines as it is to Pakistan, and what factors will determine the extent of such benevolence? The issues are manifold and too intertwined to be readily untangled that with the US held at bay in its designs Chinese tide of world economic domination.