Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal (Dec 2022)
The Ukraine-Russia War and Its Implications for Philippine Foreign Policy: Pushing Further to a Limited Hard Balancing Policy towards China
Abstract
This article examines the impact of the Ukraine-Russia War on Philippine foreign policy. It observes that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine created the widespread idea that China might emulate its strategic partner on how to deal with an irredentist claim by using force against Taiwan. This alarmed the Duterte Administration at the time it was shifting policy towards China from appeasement to limited hard balancing. This policy aims to constrain China’s maritime expansion in the South China Sea by building up the Philippine military’s external defence capabilities, maintaining its alliance with the United States, and making security arrangements with other middle powers like South Korea, Japan, and Australia. The outbreak of the Ukraine-Russian War further pushed the Duterte administration to this policy of limited hard balancing towards China. This was shown by President Duterte’s decision to strengthen the country’s security relations with the U.S. In conclusion, the article notes that the current Marcos Administration has followed its predecessor’s footsteps in applying a policy of limited hard balancing policy towards the revisionist powers in the 20th century.
