ASIA PIVOT: China, Philippines agree to cooperate on 30 projects worth $3.7 billion.

Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said he had a “very productive” meeting with Gao and they had discussed large projects in rural areas, as well as some smaller projects.

The deal is the first announcement from a two-day visit by a Philippine cabinet delegation to China that comes three months after President Rodrigo Duterte visited Beijing to pave the way for new commercial alliances.

China has welcomed Duterte’s foreign policy shift away from traditional ally the United States and toward doing more regional deals for loans and business under his “pro-Filipino” policy.

Relations between the Philippines and China “fully recovered” after Duterte’s visit, and “China supports president Duterte to lead the Philippines people in developing their economy,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing on Monday.

Who lost the Philippines? Obama did.