THE Belt and Road Initiative is seen to catapult China-Philippine relations, in the form of increased trade and investments, once realized, said HSBC.
In a report, the UK-based lender said the initiative first raised by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 will help address the infrastructure deficit and lift industrial development in the Philippines as well as to the rest of Southeast Asia.
“And with the Philippines chairing the ASEAN in 2017, the current administration will be in a good position to further build up and normalize bilateral trade with China faster,” it claimed.
“(The) Duterte Administration’s foreign policy pivot toward China gives a big push to its own Philippine Development Plan (PDP) as it puts together plans, reforms, policies, and targets to build a more sustainable economy. This sends strong signals to businesses in both nations that the Philippines is now a promising participant in China’s grant trade and infrastructure plan,” HSBC added.
The Belt and Road Initiative consists of two main components, the land-based “Silk Road Economic Belt” (SREB) and oceangoing “Maritime Silk Road” (MSR). Overall, it will cover 60 countries in Asia and Europe.
In the ASEAN region, projects under this initiative include a high-speed rail link between the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Bandung, and a rail link between China and Laos.
In the next decade, China expects its annual trade with the more than 60 countries along the “Belt” and “Road” routes to surpass USD2.5 trillion.
“China, through the Belt and Road initiative, can offer the Philippines many economic opportunities that are necessary to improve Philippine infrastructure, enhance bilateral trade, boost tourism, raise employment, alleviate poverty, and broaden social services to the Filipino people,” HSBC noted.
More than just public infrastructure, Belt and Road-related spending will also generate business opportunities for companies in sectors ranging from construction and transportation to alternative energy and telecommunications, it added.
President Rodrigo Duterte arrived in Beijing last Monday to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, together with the heads of state from over 20 countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Philippines’ participation in the initiative is said to complement the administration’s trillion-peso “Build, Build, Build” program that would usher in the country’s golden age of infrastructure in the next five years.