Marcos met Chinese president Xi Jinping on Wednesday and was due to wrap up his three-day trip on Thursday. The state visit – the first by Marcos outside Southeast Asia – was touted as a tone-setter for relations between the two countries, which cooperate on economic matters but compete in the South China Sea.
The commitments Marcos secured from Chinese investors include US$13.76 billion for renewable energy, US$7.32 billion for electric vehicles and mineral processing, and US$1.72 billion for agriculture, according to Marcos’s office.
China’s economic and political commitments also include narrowing a trade gap that heavily favours Beijing and a “compromise” on the plight of Filipino fishermen in the contested waterway.
In an effort to find common ground on the long-standing maritime dispute, Marcos welcomed Xi’s pitch to restart negotiations on oil and gas exploration – an undertaking that previously collapsed due to constitutional and sovereignty constraints.
“We hope that these negotiations will bear fruit,” Marcos told Xi.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, putting it at odds with the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. Beijing has repeatedly rejected a 2016 ruling by an international arbitration court that voided its expansive claim.
Marcos said the leaders discussed efforts to “avoid any possible mistakes, misunderstandings that could trigger a bigger problem than what we already have”.
“And President Xi promised that we would find a compromise and find a solution that will be beneficial so that our fishermen might be able to fish again in their natural fishing grounds,” Marcos said in a statement.
Manila said 14 agreements were signed, including one on a communication mechanism to avoid an escalation of tensions in the South China Sea. Others are in regard to loans and infrastructure under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and agriculture exports to China.
Sino-Philippine ties were revitalized under Marcos’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte. During his first state visit to China, in October 2016, Duterte secured US$24 billion in credit and investment pledges, little of which materialised.
Marcos’ late father, dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr, established diplomatic relations with China in June 1975. The previous year, the younger Marcos accompanied his mother, former first lady Imelda Marcos, on a trip to China, where they met Mao Zedong to lay the groundwork for the establishment of formal ties.
“Mr President, your current trip is a trip to honour history, but more importantly, it is to open up the future,” Xi told Marcos, according to a statement released by Manila.