Without categorically saying so, the World Bank’s most recent (August 2014) economic update on the Philippines pointed out that China has such a crucial role in Philippine economic development that we should develop a healthy relationship with that superpower.

That can be the only explanation why the World Bank update, for the first time in all its many analysis of the country since the 1970s, devoted several pages to the role of another country in our development. This was in its section entitled, “Special Focus: China’s slowdown and rebalancing — How the Philippines can still benefit.”