Posted on 05/19/2022 8:50:08 AM PDT by DFG
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippines president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Wednesday said his country's ties with China will expand and "shift to a higher gear" when he takes power, signalling intent to advance outgoing leader Rodrigo Duterte's pro-Beijing agenda.
Marcos, who won last week's election by a landslide, said he held "very substantial" talks by phone on Wednesday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who assured him of support for his "independent foreign policy", and agreed to hold more comprehensive discussions.
The 64-year-old son and namesake of the notorious former dictator said Xi also acknowledged his late father's role in opening diplomatic relations between China and former U.S. colony the Philippines.
"The way forward is to expand our relationship not only diplomatic, not only trade, but also in culture, even in education, even in knowledge, even in health, to address whatever minor disagreements that we have right now," Marcos said in a statement.
"I told him, we must not allow what conflicts or difficulties we have now between our two countries to become historically important."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Is he ready to give up the Philippine Sea to the Chicoms?
Extorting money from the west.
Like father, like son.
the idiot is going to loose some islands in exchange for loans from China that they cannot repay.
Another disaster
His father flew to Peking just a few days after VietNam fell in ‘75. Their islands are being confiscated. Call him and Duarte for what they are scardey cats.
Old man Marcos wasnt extorting money from the “west”. US aid was a pretty minor part of his corruption.
The really big deal was foreign loans, from banks around the world (US, Japanese, British, etc) vastly more important than anything from the US government. Marcos permitted his cronies to borrow from abroad, with the Philippine government guaranteeing the loans, and with the encouragement of the World Bank. Of course Marcos got a cut from the cronies, of course their ventures failed, of course these guys skimmed their own cut, and of course the Philippine government, even the post-Marcos government, was left holding the bag.
The last couple of years (1980-83) the country’s finances were in a desperate state, they were borrowing money to pay off interest on monies previously borrowed. There was also a lack of credit available (as they had borrowed so much already) leading to a foreign exchange crisis just when the second oil price shock hit.
The other big deal was purely domestic, as Marcos set up a system to skim export earnings of a couple of critical industries, coconuts and sugar.
Between these things, foreign loans and the export skim, they account for nearly all the corruption and economic damage he perpetrated. Anything else was in comparison trivial.
“the idiot is going to loose some islands in exchange for loans from China that they cannot repay”
BINGO!!!!
Or are they being pragmatic? Does anyone truly believe the US has the political will to fulfill their defense commitments in the Pacific?
I meant the later Marcos years, 1980-86. The foreign exchange crisis turned into a general economic crisis. The Marcos government tried to reduce egregious borrowing, but the damage was done. The Peso collapsed vs the dollar, wiping out a lot of capital held by the middle class. By 1983 nearly everyone was feeling the economic pain, suffering akin to the 1930s Great Depression.
Thats the 64K question. If it comes to it will the USN come to the rescue. Duterte believed it wouldnt.
On the other hand the Chinese are petty and vicious masters. If some faction of them sees a benefit in squeezing the Philippines over something or other they will, no matter how small. Also they did not keep their promises to Duterte. They did not come through with infrastructure investments.
China - especially since the Afghanistan Debacle - has been going around saying the days of the US are in the past and they will abandon you - and that they, China, are the future so they better align with them. This is happening in many places around the globe.
How much was old man Marcos getting from the US for his military and from hosting US bases?
Under $100million a year in 1970s-80s dollars. And only some of that could be skimmed as there was a military that had to be paid for. Very important to stay in power.
The scale of stealing is on the order of $10-15 billion, 1972-86, between all the players involved, not just Marcos. Philippine external debt rose from $2.5billion in 1972 to @$26 billion in 1983. Or from 30% of GDP in 1972 to 90%+ in 1983. And thats just foreign debt. You must add domestic debt to that.
The Philippine election saw irregularities that bore a striking similarity to the USA in 2020. Xi Jinping bought Bong Bong the throne, and now the bill is coming due.
We will see how long his military puts up with this cozy relationship.
Yes, its been discussed a lot on Philippine social media. The ratio of Bong Bong vs Leni vote count remained amazingly precise as votes were counted, while minor candidates votes changed more “naturally” in proportion.
*”Call him and Duarte for what they are scardey cats”
Or are they being pragmatic? Does anyone truly believe the US has the political will to fulfill their defense commitments in the Pacific? *
Pragmatic? Taiwan/Japan doesn’t have that luxury. Neither does S. Korea. Pragmatic just means they’ll fight to the last American.
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