To Washington’s alarm, China’s offers of assistance were tilting the geopolitical playing field across the developing world, including in the Philippines, where the government faced upwards of 100,000 infections in the early months of the pandemic.
The US relationship with Manila had grown tense after the 2016 election of Mr Duterte.
A staunch critic of the United States, he had threatened to cancel a key pact that allows the US military to maintain legal jurisdiction over American troops stationed in the country.
Mr Duterte said in a July 2020 speech he had made “a plea” to Mr Xi that the Philippines be at the front of the line as China rolled out vaccines.
He vowed in the same speech that the Philippines would no longer challenge Beijing’s aggressive expansion in the South China Sea, upending a key security understanding Manila had long held with Washington.
“China is claiming it. We are claiming it. China has the…
