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Philippines should secure new trade deals to pivot away from China, lawmakers urge
- Senators are urging President Marcos to seek other economic allies instead of remaining dependent on China, the Philippines’ biggest trade partner
- The economic concerns come on top of the South China Sea maritime dispute that Manila and Beijing have long been locked in
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Philippine senators have heaped pressure on the Ferdinand Marcos Jnr administration to shun Chinese companies and products, in retaliation against Beijing’s increasingly hostile actions in the disputed South China Sea.
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Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the country should cast its commerce net wide to attract other allies instead of remaining dependent on China, Manila’s largest trading partner.
“Let’s also look for other trading partners where we can grow and improve our economy so that we don’t have to rely on China and its goods,” Zubiri said.
He added the Philippines could take a leaf out of Vietnam’s economic playbook on how to pivot from the Asian giant.
Zubiri also called on the government to pursue free-trade deals with other Asean nations and countries like the United States, Australia and New Zealand. “So we can just boycott the Chinese-made products and the Chinese companies operating here to express our anger towards them,” he said.
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