Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte walking a tightrope with his fifth visit to China-a diplomatic charm offensive, to keep Chinese money rolling into his country.  

Duterte’s China pivot, however, isn’t a big hit with Filipinos back home. They want Duterte to challenge China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. 

While his diplomatic overtures may be unpopular, Duterte’s approval rating is nearly 80%, due in part to the government’s anti-crime campaign, including the controversial war on drugs. A violent crackdown on alleged drug dealers and users, in which thousands have been killed.

Discussion with:

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III is Research Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation. 

Camille Elemia is a politics reporter with Philippine news website, Rappler.

Einar Tangen is a political and economic affairs commentator.

Sourabh Gupta is Resident Senior Fellow at the Institute at the Institute for China-American studies.

For More:

From his war on drugs to his appeals to middle-class Filipinos, Duterte has defined the presidency as if it were the Davao mayoralty writ large, writes @SheilaCoronel.https://t.co/Nsm7nHlPPf

— Foreign Affairs (@ForeignAffairs) August 25, 2019

Basketball turned out to be a common language that brought two leaders closer together as President #XiJinping and his Philippine counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, attended the opening ceremony of the FIBA #BasketballWorldCup 2019 in Beijing on Friday night.

— China Daily (@ChinaDaily) August 30, 2019

Opinion: Duterte's visit to China and domino effect on South China Sea issue https://t.co/nXlVqxFIEj #CGTNFirstVoice pic.twitter.com/oT7bhPQpGd

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) August 29, 2019