The arbitral court finds that China violated the sovereign rights of the Philippines in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Instead, it worked on a strategy of appeasement of China and embracing its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The start of the BRI fostered a string of bilateral agreements between China and participating countries. According to Morell, there has been an exponential growth of corrosive capital since 2015. These are the pitfalls of the one-sided game that the president chose to enter with China.

Source: Philippine Star May 22, 2021 05:48 UTC