Philippines rebukes China embassy over ‘coercive’ warning of job losses
Al Jazeera
Diplomatic dispute escalates as Beijing and Manila present competing narratives in the contested South China Sea.
The Philippines has criticised China’s embassy in Manila, after the diplomatic mission warned that deteriorating bilateral relations between the two countries could cost millions of jobs.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said late on Monday it took “strong exception” to the Chinese embassy’s tone, accusing Beijing’s diplomats of implying that economic cooperation could be weaponised as leverage.
“This framing risks being perceived as coercive and undermines constructive bilateral dialogue,” the department said in a statement.
The Philippines and China have had repeated maritime confrontations in the contested South China Sea, and the latest dispute has its roots in a presentation by Commodore Jay Tarriela, a senior Philippine Coast Guard official, at an academic forum, in which he displayed a caricature of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Beijing’s embassy in Manila demanded that Tarriela be held “accountable” for what it called “smears and slanders” – a reaction that itself provoked a sharp rebuke from the Philippine Senate.
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