‘Unrequited Love’: New book out on Duterte, China, and a web of betrayals

This is a press release from the Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Credited by Senator Risa Hontiveros as “a damning record of the former president’s long-running relationship with China,” a new book co-authored by journalists Marites Vitug and Camille Elemia, Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace unearths the origins and displays the dire consequences of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s affection for China – an affection that has influenced the very functioning of our government today. 

Through archival research and field interviews, Vitug and Elemia construct a comprehensive and gripping tale of Duterte’s foreign policy shift towards China and his extraordinary efforts to court and maintain this relationship during and even after his presidency, despite China’s flagrant threats to our sovereignty. 

The book tackles an expansive list of interconnected events: Duterte’s mutually beneficial dealings with powerful Filipino-Chinese individuals and mainland Chinese immigrants, two dubious deals committed during the pandemic, Chinese-funded infrastructure projects, the surge in Chinese propaganda activities, the unfulfilled high-profile project pledges of China, and the tense encounters in the West Philippine Sea. 

The last part focuses on “The Pushback,” spotlighting the government entities that stood up against China. The epilogue details another policy shift, this time at the hands of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., one oriented towards a stronger alliance with the United States. 

A must-read for anyone interested in the China pivot and the issues surrounding it, this book is the product of years of reporting by two accomplished women. Marites Dañguilan Vitug has won recognition for her reportage on justice, politics, and security. A bestselling author of several books on Philippine current affairs, she is currently editor at large at Rappler. Camille Elemia is a multimedia journalist who has done investigative reporting on Philippine politics, China’s influence, and media and disinformation issues. She writes for The New York Times, Radio Free Asia, and BenarNews and was formerly with Rappler and CNN Philippines. 

Unrequited Love is a crucial yet difficult read given that the political plots and betrayals uncovered are baffling to accept as true. Aries A. Arugay, a professor from the Department of Political Science at the University of the Philippines, describes who will benefit the most from reading this book: “While it will be a great resource to scholars, policymakers, and students, I recommend it to every Filipino citizen whose duty is to protect the country’s national interest.” 

Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace, published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press under the Bughaw imprint, will be launched on Thursday, July 18, at 3 pm at the main hall of the Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman.

Copies will also be available at the Ateneo University Press Bookshop in Bellarmine Hall, the Press’s official Lazada and Shopee stores, as well as selected Fully Booked branches. – Rappler.com