‘The Chinese Are Coming’: US Attempts to Turn the Philippines Against Its Beijing Ally

• ‘The Chinese Are Coming’: US Attempts to Turn the Philippines Against Its Beijing Ally
  by Darius Shahtahmasebi, https://www.rt.com/
  The US has capitalised on its trade war with China, the threat of terrorism and the regional military threats allegedly posed by Beijing to keep longtime allies such as the Philippines from turning against Washington.
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  China is now the second-biggest defence spender in the world, losing out only to the US (who – by the way – is so far ahead of the game that it accounts for 36 percent of all global defence spending). The rise of Beijing – and Washington’s response to its ever-emerging preeminence – is putting traditional allies of both China and the United States in an increasingly interesting position.
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  One such ally is the Philippines. In October 2016, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte was so emboldened by his newfound anti-American stance that he even dared the CIA to try to have him removed from power (and ultimately assassinated).
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  “You want to oust me?” Duterte said at the time. “You want to use the CIA? Go ahead.”
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  At around the same time, his administration also made clear Duterte’s intentions to realign his country’s foreign policy away from a “shackling dependency” on the United States. In September of that same year, Duterte allegedly said that while he does “not want a rift with America,” all US forces in the southern region of the Philippines “have to go.”
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