European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spent July 31 and Aug. 1 in Manila, the Philippines, the first visit of an EU President to the Philippines, where she praised the Marcos government’s submission to Western demands, peddled lies about China and sold green policies for the economy. She is taking advantage of the fact that the new government under Marcos has proven to have sold out to the U.S. policies of military mobilization against China and the green agenda.
As usual, in her speeches with President Marcos and at a Business Forum, she peddled the “rules based international order,” climate change, the “derisking” (read “decoupling") from China, and digitization, but was particularly delighted that Marcos has agreed to reopen discussions on a free trade deal, which had been suspended by President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Our teams will get to work right now on setting the right conditions so that we can get back to the negotiations” on a free trade deal, which she noted is a key part of decoupling from China.
