Chinese President Xi Jinping turned to an old friend this week in an effort to repair badly-damaged ties with the Philippines.
Xi met with former president Rodrigo Duterte at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Monday in what appeared to be an effort to encourage the controversial ex-leader to “play an important role” in mending relations between the two countries.
Since Duterte left office last year, tensions have surged over repeated Chinese incursions into the Philippines’ territorial waters and other disputes in the South China/West Philippine Sea, along with Manila’s increasingly close partnership with the U.S. military.
Back in the Philipines, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. did not seem overly enthusiastic about Duterte’s freelance diplomacy but nonetheless welcomed greater communication with Beijing.
“I hoped they discussed the issues we are seeing, shadowing, all these things now so we can achieve progress,” Marcos told reporters.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Inviting a friendly face from an increasingly hostile country is a classic move from Xi’s diplomatic playbook. He’s done this numerous times with Henry Kissinger in a bid to demonstrate that he wants to have a dialogue with Americans even as ties with Washington steadily worsen.
The problem is this tactic isn’t very effective because neither Kissenger nor Duterte have much influence in the power structures of their respective capitals. So acting leaders in both Manila and Washington largely look at these types of meetings as theatrical more than substantive.
SUGGESTED READING:
- South China Morning Post: South China Sea: Xi Jinping calls on ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte to continue boosting ties by Xinlu Liang
- Reuters: Marcos hopes Xi’s talks with ex-Philippine president included South China Sea
