When the Philippines needed resources to fight its coronavirus outbreak, it turned not to its American allies, but to China.

Why it matters: The Philippines was a U.S. colony for half a century and is America’s oldest military ally in Asia. But the Southeast Asian nation is drifting further from the U.S. and toward America’s superpower rival.

Driving the news: While the U.S. has blamed Beijing for the pandemic, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has defended China and thanked Beijing heartily for sending medical equipment and personnel.

• “President Xi Jinping, for all of his goodness to us, wrote me a letter and said that he is willing to help. All we have to do is to ask,” Duterte gushed in March.
• The U.S. also sent help, but Duterte hardly acknowledged it.

Duterte has long touted China as the primary investor in the Philippines, and he pushed for a more “independent” foreign policy — summed up as, “less America, more China.”

• It was in […]