FORBES: Philippines Can Escape From China -- There's Still Time

The Philippines is already caught in China’s web, but there’s still the time and a way to escape from it.

The time is now that its economy isn’t heavily dependent on China. And the way is by saying “no” to Chinese investments that could leave the country heavily indebted to Beijing...

It can say “no” to Chinese investment projects that promote China’s ambitions rather than Philippines priorities.

Why? For a simple reason: the Philippines economy doesn’t depend heavily on China, as other Asian economies do (e.g., the Malaysian economy).

China isn’t the top direct investor in the Philippines --  Japan, US, and Singapore are.
China isn’t the top export market for the Philippines either. Last year, America was the top export market, at 10.6 billion (15.6% of total Filipino exports), followed by Hong Kong ($9.6 billion (14.2%), and Japan $9.5 billion (14%). China occupied the fourth position($8.7 billion (12.9%).

That’s in sharp contrast with Malaysia, where China is the largest export market for Malaysia ($42.5B), followed by Singapore (35.7B), and the US ($33.1B).

This means that Beijing doesn’t have leverage against any “irrational” behavior by the Philippines, like canceling Chinese projects, as it has over Malaysia.

By coincidence, Malaysia’s exports dropped unexpectedly followed a decision of the country’s newly elected leadership to cancel certain Chinese projects.

If only there's some way we can check Duterte. Article here.