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Palace: China to give PHL additional economic aid


China has pledged to ramp up its economic assistance to the Philippines following the bilateral meeting between President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a regional economic forum on Tuesday night.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said China committed to give the Philippines 500 million renminbi (roughly P4.1 billion), details of which have yet to be released by Malacañang.

Prior to this development, the Department of Finance said a combined $7.34 billion in soft loans and grants were pledged by China to the Philippines for the implementation of 10 big-ticket projects and the construction of two bridges in Metro Manila.

The loans and grants will also cover the construction of two drug rehabilitation facilities in Mindanao and assistance in the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City.

Relations between the Philippines and China have been warming since Duterte stepped into office in June 2016, even amid competing claims to some parts of the resource-rich South China Sea.

The Philippines won the arbitration case it filed against China before The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration but Duterte declined to tout the ruling and instead sought closer ties with Beijing in hopes of securing funding for much needed infrastructure.

Tuesday’s bilateral meeting took place on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia in the southern province of Hainan, where Duterte also witnessed the the signing of agreements between the Philippines and several Chinese companies wanting to invest in the country.

The business agreements have an estimated investment value of around $9 billion and could employ around 10,000 workers.

Six bilateral agreements were inked during Duterte’s meeting with Xi.

These include economic and technical cooperation between the Philippine and Chinese governments, the establishment of the third phase of the Filipino-Sino Center for Agricultural Technology, pre-feasibility study of the proposed expressway in Davao City,  exchange of letters for broadcasting equipment for the Presidential Communications Operations Office.

Also signed were the loan agreement for the Chico River pump irrigation project and memorandum of understanding on the employment of Filipino teachers of the English language in China.

Xi then hosted a dinner for Duterte and his delegation where both leaders affirmed the close ties between Manila and Beijing.

"China and the Philippines are close neighbors that cannot move away from each other for thousands and even tens of thousands of years," Xi was quoted as saying in the dinner menu.

Duterte, meanwhile, underscored the long history of friendship of the two Asian neighbors.

"The traditional friendship between the Philippines and China goes back to ancient times and is enduring. It will not be shaken easily," the Philippine leader was quoted as saying.

The dinner menu featured coconut-flavored soft red bean soup, fried lamb rib chop,  roasted Jiaji duck with Li riverside taro— Hainan’s popular dish—steamed wrasse, pea pod in chicken soup, pastries, fruits and ice cream, coffee, tea and wine. — RSJ, GMA News

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