Organizer: New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN); Sulo: The Philippine Studies Initiative at NYU

Type/Location: In Person / New York, NY

About the book:

Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2024) is the story of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s pivot to China—the factors that influenced him, the results of the policy shift on the West Philippine Sea, the rule of law, Chinese loans, grants, and pledges for infrastructure and other projects, attempts to influence the military, the political parties, Philippine media, and the public and how various institutions responded. Drawn on archival research and field interviews, the story begins with the roots of Duterte’s affection for China and leads to the maritime features that are the major sources of tension between Manila and Beijing and the pushback by key government institutions.

About the co-author:

Marites Dañguilan Vitug, a leading Filipino investigative journalist and author, is editor-at-large for Rappler. She was editor of Newsbreak magazine, a trailblazer in Philippine investigative journalism. She has written nine books--her latest is Unrequited Love: Duterte’s China Embrace, co-written with Camille Elemia. Others include Rock Solid: How the Philippines Won its Maritime Case Against China, Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court which exposed critical weaknesses in the country’s highest court, a first in the Philippines by a journalist; and Power from the Forest: The Politics of Logging. Marites is also among the contributors of Maritime Issues and Regional Order in the Indo-Pacific (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and The Politics of Environment in Southeast Asia (Routledge, 1998). Marites has a degree in A.B. Broadcast Communication from the University of the Philippines and a diploma in world politics from the London School of Economics. She was a Nieman fellow at Harvard University and a recipient of fellowships from the University of San Diego in California—the Pacific Leadership Fellow; the Rockefeller Foundation Writing Fellowship in Bellagio Center, Lago di Como, Italy; the International House in Tokyo—the Asia Leadership Fellow Program; the Australian National University, University of Kyoto and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. She has won the National Book Award and various awards for reporting on Philippine justice, security, and political affairs, including the Courage in Journalism Award from the US-based International Women’s Media Foundation.

About the moderator:

John Gershman is a Clinical Professor of Public Service, Director of the International Specialization, and Director of International Capstone Programs at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He is also a Co-Founder of the New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN) and a former Co-Chair of Sulo: The Philippine Studies Initiative at NYU.

Registration link:

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