China could lose more if it decides to impose economic sanctions on the Philippines amid the heightened tension in the South China Sea, a geopolitical analyst said Saturday. 

Professor Jay Batongbacal, the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea director, said China may face trouble if it chooses to engage in a trade war with the Philippines.

“Madali po ‘yun sabihin pero tingnan natin kung ano ang pruweba ‘no. Totoo ba na kumbaga kung ititigil ng China ang trade niya sa atin eh babagsak ang ekonomiya? (That's easy to say, but let's see what the proof is. Is it true that our economy will collapse if China stops trading with us?)” Batongbacal said. 

He noted that China is "actually the one benefiting more" from its economic partnerships with the Philippines. 

“Wala pa tayong nakikitang pruweba na kaya ng China na talagang i-sanction tayo economically (We have not yet seen any proof that China can actually sanction us economically),” he added. 

The analyst recalled that China suffered grave repercussions when it imposed trade restrictions on Australian commodities in 2020. 

China previously blocked the importation of goods like coal, timber, and barley, after Australia called for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19. 

Batongbacal said the United States and Japan, “can easily fill in the trade gap with China.”

Both countries, he stressed, served as the Philippines’ largest trading partners as of the present. 

Currently, the Philippines maintains a free trade agreement with China under the context of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-China Free Trade Agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.