As the price of rice increases and as demand for this staple food outpaces supply, the Asia Times examines how it is fueling anti-Chinese sentiments in the Philippines, a nation dependent on rice and on Chinese rice merchants:
Ask a woman named Cora why these days she has to spend so much more for rice for her food stand and family and she’s got a fast racial response. “The Chinese are the ones,” she said without hesitation. “They are handling all these things. They are the capitalists of the Philippines.”
Shopping for the lowest prices in one of Manila’s traditional markets, Cora blames “seven names” – the names of the Filipino-Chinese merchants who are widely accused of hoarding rice in order to reap higher and higher profits by driving up prices. . .
The [Filipino] government fears violence will spread as millions go hungry. To offset the threat, it recently had to sign another contract to import 1.5 million tons of rice from Vietnam, which also has obligations to ship rice to China and elsewhere. That, however, will not be enough to cover the total import needs of more than two million tons, which makes the Philippines the world’s biggest rice importer.
The widespread view that Filipino-Chinese merchants, who are known to control the import and distribution of rice, are hoarding supplies plays into the deepest anti-Chinese sentiments of a country perceived locally to be dominated by “rich Chinese” in just about every area of business and finance.
