IN his latest visit to China to take part in the Boao Forum for Asia last month, President Duterte had the chance to meet again with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who pointed out: “China-Philippines relations have experienced ‘turnaround’ to ‘consolidation’ in the past two years, ascending two steps in succession. The task of this year should be ‘improvement’ of the relationship.”
Xi reiterated that “China supports the Philippine government in actively exploring a development path that suits its national conditions” and the efforts of the Duterte administration to push forward its antiterrorism, drug-elimination and crime-eradication campaigns.
Duterte’s visit resulted in various deals. China agreed to provide P3.8 billion ($73 million) in economic and infrastructure assistance. The two governments signed agreements on economic cooperation, agricultural technology and infrastructure projects, including the Davao City Expressway and the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project.
Chinese companies also signed deals with their Filipino counterparts worth over $9 billion. The deals ranged from energy projects to joint ventures in the tourism, electronics, pharmaceutical and construction sectors.
Last month China also officially unveiled its International Development Cooperation Agency. The new agency will be responsible for developing strategic policies and guidelines on foreign aid; reforming the foreign-aid system; and drawing up plans and overseeing their implementation.
The new agency is deemed important for Chinese diplomacy and the “Belt and Road” initiative. For more than 60 years now, China has been providing assistance to other developing countries, including the Philippines, without any political conditions.
By strengthening cooperation with developing countries, and to increase aid, especially to the least-developed countries, China seeks to contribute to narrowing the North- South gap.
At the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference held in the southern island province of Hainan, the Asian Competitiveness Annual Report 2018 was released. The report said Asia is expected to remain the world’s fastest-growing region in the coming 20 years, or even by the middle of this century, as a result of enhanced driving forces of external growth and deepened cooperation among economically integrated markets.
In another report released in December 2017, the Center for Economics and Business Research in London said three of the world’s four largest economies will be Asian— China, India and Japan—by 2032, with China expected to overtake the United States to top the global list by that time.
China’s transition to consumption-driven growth and greater market access to the country will create opportunities for other economies in the region. The contribution of consumption to China’s economic growth reached 58.8 percent last year, up from 51.8 percent in 2012. With a fast-growing middle-income population of 400 million and continuous efforts to open up, China is expected to become an even more important market for the world.
The Chinese economy saw a solid start in the first quarter of this year with 6.8-percent growth, the GDP reaching 19.88 trillion yuan, or about $3.2 trillion. Its GDP growth rate has stayed within the range of 6.7 percent to 6.9 percent for 11 quarters, with the jobless rate and inflation remaining stable. China’s economy expanded 6.9 percent in 2017, picking up pace for the first time in seven years.
At the same time, China’s trade with countries covered by the Belt and Road initiative continued to increase faster than its overall foreign trade in the first quarter, official data showed on April 20. The value of China’s imports and exports to Belt and Road countries stood at 1.86 trillion yuan ($296 billion) in the first three months, accounting for 27.5 percent of China’s total trade (6.75 trillion yuan, or $1.07 trillion) during the period.
The Belt and Road initiative was first proposed by Xi Jinping in 2013 to boost trade and infrastructure investment among some 70 countries along the ancient Silk Road trade routes from Asia to Europe and Africa. In December last year, China’s National Development and Research Commission said 86 countries and international organizations already signed 100 cooperation agreements with China under the Belt and Road Initiative.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com.