The Philippines under President Duterte (Richard Javad Heydarian, Brookings)

Over the past few years, the Philippines has emerged as one of China’s staunchestcritics, particularly over the festering maritime disputes in the South China Sea. The dangerous standoff between Manila and Beijing over the Scarborough Shoal in mid-2012 torpedoed almost four decades of constructive bilateral relations. Since then, high-level communications channels have been effectively frozen, with both Filipino and Chinese officials often adopting confrontational rhetoric against each other

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2016/05/23-philippines-duterte-heydarian