Phl, China to cooperate on 30 projects worth $3.7 B

BEIJING – China has agreed to cooperate with the Philippines on 30 projects worth $3.7 billion focusing on poverty reduction, the two coun- tries said after a meeting in Beijing yesterday.

Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng announced the deals without giving details, saying it was an “initial batch” of projects that still needed to be finalized and paperwork still needed to be processed by the banks involved.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said he had a “very productive”

meeting with Gao and they had discussed large projects in rural areas, as well as some smaller projects.

The deal is the first announcement from a two-day visit by a Philippine Cabinet delegation to China that comes three months after President Duterte visited Beijing to pave the way for new commercial alliances.

China has welcomed Duterte’s foreign policy shift away from traditional ally the US and toward doing more regional deals for loans and business under his “pro-Filipino” policy.

Chinese officials pledged $15 billion of investment to the Philippines during Duterte’s visit in October, according to the Philippine finance department.

Asked whether US President Donald Trump’s economic policies would affect commercial ties between China and the Philippines, Dominguez said: “It’s better to be with good friends.”

“I’m not sure at this moment exactly what the new US policies are, but I believe that the reorientation of our President to our neighbors really was very smart,” Dominguez told reporters.

The Philippine delegation was due to meet Vice Premier Wang Yang at Zhongnanhai, the Beijing complex that houses China’s central government.

The Philippine team on the trip includes Duterte’s finance, budget, economic, public works and transport secretaries.

The two sides will also discuss the Philippines’ chairmanship of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said on Jan. 11 he was confident a code of conduct in the South China Sea between ASEAN and China could be finished by mid-2017.