The Carrot Approach: the influence of US aid post-conditionality and Chinese aid selectivity on the Philippine foreign policy on Spratlys

Abstract

The Spratly Islands in the South China Sea has been tagged as the "mother of all territorial disputes." Different foreign policies were implemented by claimant countries to assert their sovereign claim on the islands. In this study, the nature of aid conditionalities from aid conditionality to aid selectivity is used to determine the role of foreign aid in influencing foreign policy decision on Spratlys, particularly the case of the Philippines. It also explained the shift in the Philippine foreign policy from an aggressive stance against China with the United States military aid to the Philippines to a peaceful cooperation with China through joint development cooperation. Findings involve new dimensions of aid and rational institutionalist positions as determining factors for the nature and the transition of Philippine foreign policy towards the Spratlys.