China's move to ban 16 Filipinos not good for bilateral relations — PH
(DFA Photo)
The Philippine government said that China’s action to reciprocate and declare 16 Filipinos unwelcome in the country does “not contribute to fostering good and vibrant bilateral relations.”
As talks on the South China Sea conduct see signs of progress, the diplomatic disagreements between Manila and Beijing are also developing, especially as Filipino officials—from local politicians to national ones—are getting tougher in their stance on the West Philippine Sea issue.
For the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), which issued the statement on Wednesday, Feb. 11, “preventing the entry of foreign nationals into their territory is a country's sovereign prerogative.”
However, it added that “actions do not contribute to fostering good and vibrant bilateral relations, especially in reinvigorating people-to-people interaction, which both the Philippines and China have committed to.”
On Tuesday, Feb. 10, China's embassy in Manila announced that 16 officials of the municipality of Kalayaan, the forefront town in the West Philippine Sea, are banned from entering the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macau.
The embassy's move came as retaliation to the municipality's resolution declaring Chinese Ambassador in Manila Jing Quan unwelcome in the island for supposedly violating diplomatic protocol by demanding the Philippine government "hold accountable" Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela for his transparency efforts in the West Philippine Sea.