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South China Sea
AsiaSoutheast Asia

South China Sea: Philippines says ‘not turning against’ Beijing, economy doing well despite maritime feud

  • Economic Planning Secretary Balisacan said there was no attempt to sideline Chinese investors even as the two nations increasingly engaged in diplomatic stand-offs
  • His remarks came as GDP in the three months through March grew 5.7 per cent from a year earlier

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Food vendors at a market in Bacolod City, Philippines. The country’s economy grew 5.7 per cent in the first quarter. Photo: Bloomberg
Bloomberg
The Philippines said geopolitical tensions with Beijing have not affected the Southeast Asian nation’s economy and the government is still willing to work with Chinese investors.
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“There doesn’t seem to be any indication at all that these issues have remarkable adverse effects on the economy,” Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said on Thursday, shortly after the government reported first-quarter growth of 5.7 per cent, below a 5.9 per cent expansion seen in a Bloomberg survey.

Tensions between the Philippines and China over their competing claims in the South China Sea have escalated in recent months. The Philippines last year dropped Chinese financing for three railway projects because funding was not provided, Balisacan said.

“We are not turning against China,” Balisacan said. “I don’t think there is any attempt at all to disadvantage Chinese investors in the Philippines, particularly the private investors, just because we have these issues in the West Philippine Sea,” he added, using Manila’s term for the South China Sea.

Gross domestic product in the three months through March grew 5.7 per cent from a year earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Thursday.

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While the latest data point to the resilience of the Philippine economy, which posted the fastest expansion in Southeast Asia last year, more signs have emerged that interest rates at a 17-year high and sticky inflation are taking their toll on domestic activity. Consumption, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of output, rose 4.6 per cen last quarter, the slowest growth post-pandemic.

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