The Philippines in Argentina's agenda towards East Asia: Chanllenges and opportunities for intra-Asian diversification (2008-2017)

Abstract

The Philippines emerge in the Far East as one of Argentina´s recent non-traditional partner, both in the commercial and political dimensions. In this work our general objective is to analyze Argentina's foreign policy and trade relations with the Philippines between 2008 and the present. As specific objectives we will focus on: 1) Analyzing the actions implemented by Argentina on the political and strategic dimensions, 2) Identifying the scientific-academic initiatives, with the participation of governmental and non-governmental actors, in the mentioned period, and 3) Describing and analyzing the flow of commercial exchanges in terms of amounts and composition.

Given that the Philippines is still in a non-priority area of the Argentine external agenda, we will seek to understand how these approaching actions are part of an impulse-led foreign policy, rather than a clear and deliberated strategy of political and economic rapprochement. We arrive to the conclusion that the place of the Philippines on the external insertion of Argentina is still peripheral, despite being part of the East Asian region, a neuralgic area in the commercial and political agenda of the country.