Clytemestra Miaflor T.

Juan
ABFS 302
International Political Economy
Jumel G. Estrañero
March 05, 2018

International Political relations of RP-US-PRC: The Leading Controversy Over South China Sea
Dispute

We know that even from our history that United States and Philippines have shared a good
relationship with each other, their relations has been already described as a special relationship and thats
the reason why our country has been ranked as one of the favorite Asian partner s of the United States.
However our current president Rodrigo Duterte decided to shift alliances with china, he prioritize in
building strong relation and dealing with China instead of United States. He therefore announced to have
separation from United States not in social but in military and economy matters but we know for a fact
that the separation would apparently result implications for the Philippine’s and US’s economies in terms
of labors and trade movements and aside from that distancing ourselves from America may deter that
massive flow of trade and aid from continuing. In my own opinion one of the main causes why our
president tend to set separation from USA easily is because they already had trifle argument specifically
regarding drugs and human rights protection. He didn’t approve to former President Obama who urged
him to carry out his war on drugs and since China was ready to help our country’s conflict on drugs he
became more in favor of negotiating with China rather than United States. Duterte’s comments hovered
US-Philippine’s ties and this could possibly disrupt the entire Asia-Pacific region while China’s territorial
claims over South China Sea have been already questioned and contested by several ASEAN countries
such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam and because Philippines shifted its alliance from US with
China, this could give China more leverage to hold on those tense region and by this, it would result a
negative impact on political economies of the region. I strongly believe that the South China Sea dispute
can possibly resolve by having negotiations and that could be the reason why our president set up
negotiation mechanism and chose to have bilateral discussion with China. Dealing with China would
definitely benefit our economy, being world’s largest economy their power in business alone makes them
a significant factor in global trade. They are the largest importers of our product exports, allowing those
industries to grow and provide us with more international revenue and since the issue of our battling
claims with China will take years to resolve, having distance over china wont add solution especially we
don’t have sufficient military power yet to force them out at this time and of course China surely has its
own reason why they have agreed to have connections with us, Our nation should not completely trust all
of their actions to our country because we’re still not absolute if their intentions and concerns were true.
We cant say that China was absolutely sincere maybe their just concealing their hidden agenda by
showing good deeds to our country.
So my thoughts about the relationship between United States and China is that they are both
undeniably powerful in terms of economic progress. Although, US is still the world’s only superpower,
but China is gradually catching up. China’s economy has become the second largest in the world, and the
leadership is speaking with a louder voice in international affairs. These two countries became rivals in
dominating the worlds power. But in order for China to become a superpower and dominant like the
United States, Beijing needs a new effective strategy that fully embraces genuine alliances, and not just
so-called “strategic partnerships” and with that it will enable their country to strengthen their military
power.
Our bilateral relationship with Russia is quite improving, President Duterte already had
negotiations towards Russia in terms of trade expansion and military technologies. I chose Russia over
some countries because I personally believe that Russia is known for having advance military equipments
that would definitely serve as an advantage to our country if they provide and support us with effective
military machine and war equipments that is essential for conducting war and Even though the
Philippines’ foreign policy is likely to continue to revolve around Duterte’s relationships with the United
States and China, Russia has a unique opportunity to forge a durable economic and security partnership
with the Philippines.

Well honestly its hard to predict what might happen for the next 10 years in the security of Asia
Pacific specifically with the conflicts regarding the overdue issue of South China sea disputes. But to give
an analytical opinion about this matter is that many years later this most used shipping lane in the world which
is the South China Sea, will now be completely watched and controlled by the Chinese. If an incident such as the
Taiwan Strait Crisis broke out, the Chinese would be the first to know about anyone who militarize the area. And
then Manilla would also be under radar surveillance. This tend to provide an excellent bufferzone for future
engagements in the region. I think there would be a war within the region and when that time came China is more
than prepared for each one of the country who will attempt. If air force bases, anti-air missiles and soldier barracks
isn't a sign of what's to come, I don't know what else is because during that time Im confidently sure that technology
in war has been more advance and effective than before it was. Thats why my recommendation for this is that its fine
to have a perception that dealing with our enemies is another effective way of beating them because by that you will
able to know how he manages at run his administration although its good to have true intentions over some countries
but we have to keep in mind that its hard to trust others in the world of politics that almost everyone is aiming for the
betterment and enhancement of their country. Our president should be more careful and wiser in deciding what to
take actions over some political and economical matters.