A Hong Kong journalist was under fire in the Philippines yesterday for calling the Southeast Asian country a “nation of servants” in a column about disputed areas in the South China Sea.
In his Friday column for HK Magazine titled “The War At Home,” Chip Tsao denounced the Philippines’ claims to the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed in whole or in part by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.
“As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from where you earn most of your bread and butter,” he said.
Tsao said he gave his Philippine maid a “harsh lecture” on the issue and “sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots … that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.”
The magazine said Tsao is a best-selling author and columnist. He is a former reporter for the BBC.
The Blas F Ople Policy Center, a Manila-based non-governmental organization providing assistance to migrant workers, called on the Philippine labor department to blacklist Tsao as an “undesirable foreign employer.”
Susan Ople, the center’s chairwoman, said Tsao should not use his Philippine maid as a “pawn” in the dispute over the Spratly Islands.
“The household is not the place to resolve multiple claims to the Spratly Islands, and Philippine domestic workers should not suffer because of it,” she said.
Ople added that Tsao’s maid “deserves a sane and more humane employer while he deserves to clean up his own filth.”
Congresswoman Risa Hontiveros Baraquel, a representative of a left-wing party, condemned the column and lamented that Tsao’s “disgusting, derogatory and vile remark can only come from dim-witted and mediocre writing.”
“The article reflects the attitude that promotes intolerance and abuse against Philippine domestic workers,” she said.
On the magazine’s Web site, Tsao has received numerous negative comments.
“There is a point where irony done in very poor taste becomes not humorous, but crass, bigoted and stupid,” one commenter said.
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
POINTING FINGERS: The two countries have accused each other of firing first, with Bangkok accusing Phnom Penh of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday warned that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people “could develop into war,” as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis yesterday. A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported that one civilian — a 70-year-old man — had been killed and
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
‘OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE’: Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen are to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss EU-China relations and geopolitical challenges Top leaders from China and the EU are to hold a summit in Beijing this week, as the major economic powers seek to smooth over disputes ranging from trade to the Ukraine conflict. Beijing and Brussels have been gearing up to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, but a suite of squabbles over state subsidies, market access and wartime sanctions have dampened the festivities. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would visit on Thursday. The statement came after the EU