IN an article I wrote in the “Ambassadors’ Corner” during the latter part of the Aquino administration, I worried that the Philippines might join the US and Japan in boycotting China’s initiative of establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and thereby miss the boat on the future direction of Asian economic development and trade. But to their credit, the economic advisers of former President Aquino did not tarry in recognizing the intrinsic merits of the initiative and recommended joining the AIIB. This made it possible for Congress in the early part of the administration of President Duterte to ratify the agreement making the Philippines a founding member of the AIIB. And with President Duterte’s state visit to China spectacularly reviving and reinvigorating relations between the two countries, the Philippines has become potentially a full participant and beneficiary of the One Belt, One Road project, of which the AIIB is an important part.