Former President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte pretends to be the ultimate nationalist strongman. In reality, Duterte was and remains a dancing duck for Xi Jinping.
Excusing China's seizure of the Philippines's exclusive economic zone, Duterte turned his navy into a beach patrol and abandoned his nation's historic alliance with the U.S. In contrast, since entering office in June 2022, current President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos has matched diplomacy with China alongside efforts to restore the U.S. alliance. Marcos has strengthened coast guard patrols of the Philippines's exclusive economic zone and is planning joint patrols with the U.S. The new president has also provided the U.S. military with access to bases along his nation's northern coast, bases that would be of crucial importance to any U.S. defense of Taiwan in the likely event that China attacks that island democracy.
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Marcos has pursued this path not because he is some kind of American puppet but rather because he sees relentless imperial harassment from China. Duterte's appeasement made Beijing believe that the Philippines's sovereignty and honor could simply be bought off and buried. Marcos is showing it can't be.
Unsurprisingly, Beijing isn't very happy about this turn of events.
Hence why, as the South China Morning Post notes, Duterte was provided a personal audience with Xi on Tuesday. The Chinese president called on Duterte to "play an important role in the friendly cooperation between the two countries." The symbolism of a former leader meeting Xi is important. It shows how much the Chinese Communist Party misses their puppet in Manila. Incidentally, that Xi met with Duterte but not John Kerry, who is visiting Beijing for climate talks, shows how little China actually values the climate change issue (something the Europeans should take more notice of).
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Still, Duterte has made clear that he remains Xi's loyal servant. It's one thing that Duterte made this visit in an effort to show disagreement with Marcos. But the fact that the former president didn't even bother to inform the Filipino foreign ministry of his travel plans is also noteworthy. This is a standard courtesy expected of former government officials when they travel to meet foreign officials.
We shouldn't be surprised by that omission. In the end, Duterte has always been far more of a Chinese Communist official in Filipino clothing than he has been a servant of Filipino interests.