The Chinese embassy in Manila yesterday rejected Philippine criticism of one of its senior officials who has been “banned” from the foreign ministry, amid high tensions over a maritime row.
Department of Foreign Affairs officials said on Tuesday that Chinese Embassy First Secretary Li Yongsheng (李永勝), who heads its political section, raised his voice in an offensive manner during a discussion of Manila’s claims that Chinese forces intruded into Philippine territorial waters around the Spratly Islands (南沙群島). The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they lacked authority to talk to reporters.
A memorandum from the department’s Asian and Pacific Affairs office said Li exhibited “conduct unbecoming of a diplomat” and that the Chinese embassy had been informed he would not be allowed to attend future meetings at the Philippine office.
In a barbed reaction to the unsigned statement which was shown to the press on Tuesday, Chinese embassy spokesman Sun Yi (孫毅) said: “We don’t want to comment on remarks by someone who hides his or her name.”
“Each and every diplomat of the Chinese embassy in the Philippines is working with every sense of sincerity and responsibility for the improvement and development of China-Philippines friendly relations,” he added.
The diplomatic snub follows Philippine allegations of increasingly forceful Chinese actions in resources-rich areas of the South China Sea that are claimed by both countries.
The Philippines has accused Chinese forces of opening fire on Filipino fishermen, shadowing an oil exploration vessel employed by a Philippine firm and putting up structures in Philippine-claimed areas.
In the latest incident, it said an unidentified foreign plane harassed a group of Filipino fishermen in the South China Sea last month with a flyover that the navy said was a plain warning.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has asked Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del -Rosario to explore ways of peacefully settling the territorial dispute during a two-day visit to Beijing due to begin today.
The Filipino leader also said he expects to make his own visit to China this year.
The Philippines and China, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan, each claim all or part of the South China Sea — particularly the Spratlys, a chain of islets in the area that are believed to sit on vast mineral resources.
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks, with the Philippines and Vietnam voicing alarm at what they say are increasingly aggressive Chinese actions there.
Speaking before diplomats on Tuesday, Aquino said Filipinos should not allow themselves to be bullied by bigger nations in an obvious reference to China. “If we allow ourselves to be pushed around, maybe tomorrow our 7,100 islands would be down to just two digits,” he said.
“Nobody wants trouble, but this doesn’t mean that we’ll allow ourselves to get dragged by bigger countries,” he said.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
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