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alacañang's decision will be problematic regardless of whether it allies with China or the United States. The U.S., for its part, appears to be gaining support in the region as China's sweeping claims in the South China rub our Southeast Asian neighbors the wrong way. The Duterte administration initially sided with Beijing, hoping to extract concessions and loans for its Build! Build! Build! development plan. It even turned its back on the country's sweeping tribunal victory in the Hague—an unprecedented ruling that nullified China's Nine-Dash Line claim—to please Beijing.