How Jokowi bested China, while Duterte ended up a lackey

 

Indonesia and the Philippines have used very different strategies when it comes to dealing with Beijing, writes Philippine commentator Richard Heydarian this week, and with radically divergent results. While Rodrigo Duterte has spent years kowtowing to China, Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, has consistently refused to be intimidated by Asia's economic superpower.
 
"The unmistakable lesson," writes Heydarian, "is that China treats meek leaders such as Duterte with contempt, but will strike mutually beneficial deals with the likes of Jokowi," adding that there are lessons here for the rest of the world too, "especially small and developing countries, in the way these two Southeast Asian nations have handled evermore assertive China."