In the past 3 months since the departure of former Philippine President Duterte, Philippine President Marcos Jr. joined hands with Duterte's daughter, former mayor of Davao City, Philippines, and current Vice President of the Philippines - Sarah Duterte came to power, although the foreign policy direction of Marcos Jr. is not clearly visible, it is difficult to mark the recognized label for the time being, but the big pattern left by Duterte, Sarah, as the second in command of the Philippines, has not lost anything.
According to media reports, a few days ago, when the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines held an online reception to celebrate the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Sarah used large sections of Mandarin to deliver a speech, breaking the history of the Philippines and becoming the first senior Philippine official to speak in large sections of Mandarin.
In his speech, the Philippine vice president said in Mandarin that the Philippine side not only thanked China for being a generous neighbor, but also looked forward to establishing more partnerships and cooperation with China to jointly achieve the sustainable development goals of China and the Philippines.
Sarah then thanked China for helping the Philippines revive its economy. Sarah said that in 2021, China will become the Philippines' largest bilateral trading partner, which will not only help the Philippines recover from the economic difficulties caused by the new crown epidemic, but also inspire small economies like the Philippines to be more active in achieving its economic goals.
Subsequently, Sarah affirmed China's efforts in economics, research and development, technology and manufacturing. She said that with China's efforts, China is in a leading position in economy, research and development, technology and manufacturing, making indelible contributions to the Asian economy and making China the fastest growing economy in the world.
Sarah, meanwhile, mentioned how Sino-Filipino relations developed under her father's leadership. Sarah stressed that she is very pleased to note that under Duterte's leadership, Sino-Philippine relations have developed rapidly and reached new heights. This positive momentum has made diplomatic contacts between Marcos Jr. and Huang Xilian, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, smoother, especially on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines.
It should be mentioned that in the six years of being the master of the Philippines, Duterte has left a lot of political achievements for the Philippines, laid the general direction of the Philippines' foreign policy in a tone of being close to China, close to Russia, and far away from the United States, emphasized that the Philippines should maintain friendly relations with China, and expanded Sino-Philippine economic and trade cooperation, which has won tangible benefits for the Filipino people.
From the words and deeds of Sarah, the vice president of the Philippines, who delivered a speech in Mandarin, it is not difficult to find the following points. The first point is that Sarah has a positive attitude toward Duterte's pragmatic China policy and Duterte's enthusiasm for doing a good job in the overall pattern of relations with China, and has inherited her father's mantle to continue to develop Sino-Philippine friendly relations.
The second point is that on the occasion of China's celebration of the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Sarah broke with the usual practice, deliberately delivered a speech in Mandarin, and did not hesitate to praise China and praise Sino-Philippine relations, which not only expressed her own position of wanting to be close to China, but also expressed her intention to show goodwill to the Chinese side, so that the Philippine side can catch up with China's fastboat of rapid economic development, develop the Philippine economy, and seek benefits for the ordinary people of the Philippines.
The third point is, what does China mean for the Philippines? Sarah saw better than Marcos Jr. It should be known that compared with Sarah's foreign policy of treating China as a generous neighbor and implementing Duterte's closeness to China's China policy, Marcos Jr. wants to strengthen the Philippines' relations with China and the United States at the same time, and wants to maintain a delicate balance between China and the United States, which is not only a little more cautious and smooth, but also a little more ambitious.
As the saying goes, the tiger father has no dog, and in Duterte and Salad, we can faintly see the shadow of the tiger father without the dog. Although the Philippines is currently in charge of the house by Marcos Jr., not Sarah, with the assistance of Sarah, the vice president of the Philippines, the direction of the Philippines' foreign policy will most likely not deviate from Duter's specific tone, but continue to sail in this general direction.