Trying to play off China and the United States by pretending to cooperate with both is a game a lot of dictators played in the Cold War. A few of them ended up dead, since major powers of the world have little tolerance for this game, but others are allowed to get away with it for long periods of time. Duterte has been playing it a little too long for his own good.
The Wall Street Journal has a piece today on what is happening between him and Xi Jinping currently. It seems they have forgotten all that money that China put into Duterte's home town and have moved on to joint oil exploration which has not made as much money as outright bribery has so far. Duterte may not be as stupid as China is making him out to be. He is dragging his feet on the joint exploration, knowing that the "joint" may not outlast his lifetime. The Chinese can claim anything in the South China Sea and nothing the Philippines does can stop it. That makes joint exploration a little risky for him. He seems to be aware of that. Smart man.
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