[Hot Off the Press] Unrequited Love: Duterte's China Embrace

New book Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace exposes a web of betrayals that threaten our country’s sovereignty 

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 accomplished journalist and bestselling author Marites Vitug and award-winning multimedia journalist and writer for The New York Times and Radio Free Asia Camille Elemia, Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace unearths the origins and displays the dire consequences of the former president’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 former president Rodrigo 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 hard-hitting journalism and reporting by two accomplished women. Marites Dañguilan Vitug has won awards and public recognition for her reportage on justice, politics, and security. As a bestselling author, she has written several books on Philippine current affairs. She is currently editor at large at Rappler. Camille Elemia on the other hand is an award-winning multimedia journalist known for her investigative reporting on Philippine politics, China’s influence, and media and disinformation issues. She is a reporter for The New York Times and Radio Free Asia and its affiliate BenarNews and was formerly with Rappler and CNN Philippines.

Senator Risa Hontiveros further praises the journalistic efforts of the authors: “Vitug and Elemia pieced together the puzzle and history of the Duterte–China affair, one bound by personal agendas and political alliances and one that is unfaithful to our country’s national interest.” 

Ralph G. Recto, secretary of the Department of Finance considers the book “an eye-opening, thought-provoking, worthy addition to the sparse scholarly literature on an issue that impacts the course of our history.” He also highlights the capacity of the book to act as a guide for the present: “It is not just a chronicle of what has been, but, hopefully, of what can be, a Waze out of this nation’s greatest conundrum.”

Unrequited Love is a crucial yet difficult read given that the political plots and betrayals uncovered are baffling to accept as true. Nevertheless, 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 is published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press under the Bughaw imprint. The book is available at the Ateneo University Press Bookshop in Bellarmine Hall, the Press’s website, Lazada, and Shopee stores, as well as selected Fully Booked branches.