writer Luo Jun
BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- For whoever wins the Philippine general election on Monday, improving the people's well-being is undoubtedly a top priority, and that effort would be unnecessarily harder without a healthy relationship with China.
As the world's second largest economy, and the No. 1 trade partner to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which the Philippines is an important member, China has made remarkable contributions to the development of the dynamic region, consisting of mostly emerging economies.
With the China-proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) breaking ground with new projects, and the gradual gathering of momentum by the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road program, part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, promising new opportunities are presented for regional countries including the Philippines.
Unfortunately, over the past six years, under President Benigno Aquino's rule, the Southeast Asian country has increasingly fallen under the influence of warmongers in Washington and Tokyo, while achieving little in real benefits and progress for its people.
Respectively seeking "re-balance towards the Asia-Pacific," a strategy widely interpreted as a move to contain a prospering China, and the expansion of military power, the United States and Japan have made a use of unresolved territorial disputes in the South China Sea as a perfect excuse to create tension and insert their meddling hands.
Read the full story at Xinhua