Explaining the belt and road in the Philippines: Elite consolidation, construction contracts, and online gambling capital

College

College of Liberal Arts

Document Type

Book Chapter

Source Title

Research Handbook on the Belt and Road Initiative

First Page

138

Last Page

150

Publication Date

10-22-2021

Abstract

Our chapter examines the Belt and Road Initiative's (BRI) investments during Rodrigo Duterte's administration (2016-present). Duterte's "China pivot" opened the Philippines to BRI investments. We ask: to what extent has BRI investments or Chinese capital increased since the beginning of the Duterte administration? We argue that despite the stronger relations between the Philippines and China, the progress of BRI projects has largely been uneven. First, the progress of major construction contracts by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) was determined by consolidated elite support, such as that in the military, nationally significant political elites, and government technocrats. We illustrate the argument through the case of the Kaliwa Dam, showing that the dam has made significant progress despite the project's economic unviability and numerous procedural anomalies. Afterwards, we briefly map the importance of consolidated elite support into all the other BRI projects. Second, we show that Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) massively increased in the Philippines. The sector that most represents this trend is the online gambling industry. Similar to the BRI projects, online gambling needed consolidated elite support to progress. However, the nature of the sector and the structure of the Philippine economy necessitated a different type of elite coalition for online gambling projects.

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Disciplines

Economic Policy

Note

Abstract only

Keywords

Philippines—Foreign economic relations—China; Internet gambling—Philippines

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