The Philippine Department of Transportation has announced the termination of many China's expensive infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative in favour of competitors from the West and Japan.

• Nearly all of China's major investment projects in the Philippines are currently under question, according to the Philippine Senate, because of both political and economic issues.
• The result is a new low point in the relationship between the Philippines and China, a sharp reversal from the cordial six years of cooperation during the pro-Beijing administration of Rodrigo Duterte.
• China's diplomatic outreach in the Philippines under President Duterte was criticized for being "pledge trap" diplomacy, in which the country offered significant investments in return for concessions in the South China Sea. However, the vast majority of these promised $24 billion in infrastructure projects failed to materialize.