The Department of National Defense (DND) on Sunday, Aug. 16, accused China of avoiding key questions again over the arrest and detention of Chinese nationals in the country.

DND spokesperson Asst. Sec. Arsenio Andolong rejected the Chinese Embassy’s response to Defense Sec. Gilberto Teodoro Jr.’s earlier remarks on the raid at the Sanjia Steel Corp. plant in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental in May.

“The Chinese Embassy’s response does not contain any answers. Instead, it is full of questions and rhetoric,” Andolong said, quoting Teodoro’s position.

“This is a classic example of evasiveness and a badge of deception. This is in legal practice an implied admission of culpability,” he added.

The statement came a day after Teodoro hit China’s warning that Filipinos could “bear the brunt” of worsening bilateral ties between Manila and Beijing. He called the warning an indiscriminate threat against ordinary Filipinos and described it as “extortion and blackmail.”

The dispute has been linked to the raid on the steel plant where 69 Chinese nationals were arrested. Authorities also reported alleged environmental violations and the presence of radioactive materials in imported scrap.

Chinese Embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng said Teodoro’s statements were “completely unfounded” and that he had “distort[ed] the facts and turn[ed] black into white.”

“Is Teodoro a national defense chief or a police chief? Why did he have a hand in the law enforcement operation? What is he up to? Is that part of his portfolio?” Ji said, referring to Teodoro’s instruction for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to join the May operation.

The embassy also questioned why Chinese workers were arrested if the steel plant had violated environmental or other laws.

“Why were the workers arrested instead of the people in charge? Why were only the Chinese workers arrested, while all the Filipino workers were released on the spot?” Ji said.

He also questioned why the Chinese nationals were transported to Manila for detention aboard a military aircraft.

The embassy also criticized the detention conditions, saying the detained Chinese workers were placed in five-square-meter cells. It claimed an average of 13 people were held in each cell and that the detainees could not sleep properly.

It also accused local authorities of failing to make consular notification or arrange consular visits in accordance with the bilateral consular agreement.

The embassy said it had immediately provided law enforcement authorities with copies of the Chinese workers’ passports and valid work visas or permits, questioning why the workers were not released and why some were held for as long as 32 days.

The embassy also disputed Teodoro’s statement that the absence of documents on the workers’ status at the time of their arrest was a “telltale sign of human trafficking.”

“Does this meet the legal definition of human trafficking under Philippine law? Are all foreign workers employed at factories in the Philippines required to carry their passports at all times?” Ji said.

The Chinese Embassy further invoked a May 28 resolution by local prosecutors, which supposedly directed that complaints against the Chinese nationals be referred for further investigation and allegedly ordered the release of all of their detained citizens unless they were being held for other lawful causes.

The dispute intensified after China arrested more than 100 Filipinos for alleged illegal work or overstaying in Beijing.

Teodoro linked the immigration action to the continuing disagreement over the Chinese nationals arrested in Misamis Oriental although Beijing denied using the arrests to pressure Manila.