China's Island-Building Skills Lift Hopes in Duterte's Backyard
- Three artificial islands to boost new port in Davao City
- Company that built up reefs in South China Sea is key investor
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Among the first to gain from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s China pivot could be the people who live on rickety wooden stilt-houses in a waterlogged area of his hometown of Davao City.
Chinese investors are set to spend $200 million to raise three islands from the sea to create a new port. Residents in the area known as Isla Verde aren’t worried that one of the companies is CCCC Dredging Group Co. Ltd., which helped turn a handful of rocks and reefs in the South China Sea into a chain of Chinese maritime outposts that threaten Philippine territorial claims.