Leaders | Bully for the Philippines

Philippine President Duterte has shown how not to handle China

Appeasement has brought few benefits and undercut a regional approach

FACED WITH a bully, you have two choices. One is to confront, as Rodrigo Duterte threatened when campaigning in 2016 to become president of the Philippines: he declared he would deal with the country’s dispute with China in the Spratly Islands by riding a jet ski into the contested waters waving the national flag. In office, Mr Duterte has taken the other path, trying to bribe, flatter, cajole and wheedle the bully into more reasonable behaviour. This has turned out to be as silly and futile as a jet ski.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “How not to deal with China”

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