As China records a record trade surplus, Filipino economist Leonardo Lanzona urges the Philippines to focus on improving domestic structures and internal efficiency rather than reducing trade ties with China. He suggests developing sectors with a comparative advantage, such as unskilled labor-intensive industries like crafts and agricultural products, where the Philippines can compete with China.
File photo: Cranes and transporters work at an automated container port in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province.
The proper response to China’s dominion, Lanzona added, is not to cut ties with the economic powerhouse “but to improve a country’s domestic structure so that it can stand on its own two feet.” As to which industries the Philippines should focus on developing, the Ateneo economist said these would consist of unskilled labor- intensive industries such as crafts and agricultural products, which he said, “China and the rest of the countries will give up.”
Goods sourced from China represent 25.7 percent of the country’s $117.51-billion imports in the January to November 2024 period. Philippine exports to China amounted to $8.71 billion in the 11-month period in 2024, a 14.8-percent decline from the $10.22 billion export receipts in the same period in 2023.
CHINA ECONOMY TRADE PHILIPPINES COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
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