MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine infrastructure projects involving Chinese firms blacklisted by the United States over their roles in constructing artificial South China Sea islands can continue, the president’s spokesman said on Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte will not follow the United States’ move to sanction the Chinese firms as the Philippines is an independent nation and needs infrastructure investment, his spokesman Harry Roque told a regular news conference.
The country’s foreign minister last week said he would recommend the government terminates deals with the blacklisted Chinese companies.
(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty)
