Philippine Foreign Policy

Under President Duterte:

Continuity and Change

KB Teo

SYNOPSIS

President Duterte’s foreign policy is characterised by continuity and change.  He continues to vigorously pursue Philippine national interests. The big change is his strong interest in strengthening economic and financial ties with China, especially infrastructure projects.

COMMENTARY

In 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte had gone on a total of 21 foreign trips, including all ASEAN Member States, China, Japan, Peru, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Russia. He went on these trips in a span of one year, effectively making him the most traveled president during his first year in office.

His visit to Myanmar in March 2017 marked the completion of his tour of all Member States of ASEAN. He successfully visited the nine other Member States less than a year into his presidency, a feat which his predecessors had not accomplished. The round of visits to ASEAN is particularly significant given the Association’s 50th founding anniversary and the Philippines’ chairmanship this year. Meanwhile, Duterte’s engagement with countries in Northeast Asia, Middle East, and Russia is politically significant as the Philippines seeks to expand and forge relations as a manifestation of an independent foreign policy. 

At the onset of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, his foreign policy has been among the most talked about, with his promise to pursue an independent foreign policy even to the extent of declaring an intention to put a stop to US military presence in the country.  Three years into the presidency, Duterte’s foreign policy has been challenged many times over. From the continuing US intervention in the country to his apparent overzealous defense of China intrusion, Duterte’s foreign policy proves to be anything but independent.  

On one hand, Duterte is invoking the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US government, asking the latter to go into war with China. On the other hand, however, he has made a so-called “verbal agreement” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, allowing their nationals to fish in the country’s exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea.  Duterte is enjoying a cordial relationship with US President Trump. Such cordial relationship has allowed the US government to continue with its lopsided military agreements with the Philippine government.

Since Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte came to power, he has overseen a remarkable improvement in the country’s bilateral diplomatic relations with China.  And yet, the Philippine military, which still views China as a top security threat, has leveraged the chaos and rising tensions in the South China Sea as an opportunity to tighten defence ties with the United States.  Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is yet to sign a single major defence agreement with China.

This year has seen the greatest number of joint military exercises between the US and the Philippines, including unprecedented war games in recent weeks that had China in mind.   Blossoming Philippine-US military relations represent the greatest contradiction in Duterte’s Beijing-friendly foreign policy. This is a far cry from the toxic exchanges of the previous Benigno Aquino administration, which shunned Chinese investment and decided to take Beijing to international court over maritime disputes.  Duterte has decided to “set aside” the Philippines’ arbitration 

award against China, while the latter has vociferously defended the Philippine president’s controversial drug war.

Chinese private investments, especially in the real estate and casino industries, have skyrocketed. The Philippines warmly welcome infrastructure investments under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.  Meanwhile, the two countries have formed a de facto diplomatic alliance in multilateral forums, including the United Nations. In one area, however, bilateral relations remain frozen in time. The Philippine military is yet to sign any major defence agreement with China, which has repeatedly offered large-scale military aid.  Despite Duterte’s outspoken criticism of Washington, and his earlier threat of “separation” from the Philippines’ century-old ally, bilateral defence ties have actually flourished in recent years.  The US, Australia and Japan enjoy expansive access to strategic bases in the Philippines.  In fact, the Pentagon enjoys progressive access to multiple strategic bases, including the Antonio Bautista Air Base and Basa Air Base, which are located close to the disputed areas of the South China Sea.

In July 2019, a political analyst called out President Rodrigo Duterte for the “double standard” in his foreign policy.  Bobby Tuazon, director for policy studies of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, pointed out the stark differences between the President’s relationship with China and other countries.  He compromises sovereignty when it comes to his relationship with China and then he asserts sovereignty when it comes to international organizations,”. With China, according to Tuazon, the Duterte administration has a “separation of contentious issues and non-contentious issues through peaceful dialogue. Duterte’s critics have said that the relations between Manila and Beijing are strengthening at the expense of the Philippines’ maritime territory and resources.

In October 2019,  Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte paid his second visit to Russia in three years in what was trumpeted as another gain for his so-called “independent foreign policy”.  The aim is to cultivate non-traditional partners for the Southeast Asian state apart from its treaty ally the United States. The slogan has a lot of traction in the past few years.  But the record of Duterte’s foreign policy approach itself is a much more mixed, with individual gains obscured by strategic challenges.

Since the founding of the country, Philippine foreign policy has rested on the management of different broad priorities.  This would include managing ties with neighboring states, balancing ties between major powers, and contributing to the resolution of regional and global issues. For instance, under Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, there was a hardening of the approach toward China and a closer embrace of members of the U.S. alliance and partnership network, along with a commitment to regional and international institutions for the promotion of Philippine interests.

Duterte’s foreign policy is a mix of continuity and change. The idea of an independent foreign policy is not unique to Duterte or new to the Philippines.  It is expressed in the Philippine Constitution. An independent foreign policy is most often expressed as one based on cultivating a diversified set of relationships solely based on Philippine national interests, designed to maximize the country’s autonomy, security, and prosperity. (The Diplomat)

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KB Teo is a former diplomat with the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He attended the UN General Assembly as part of the MFA delegation.