DFA warns China over retaliating on Kalayaan

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) warned Wednesday that China’s retaliation — declaring Kalayaan officials in Palawan persona non grata — could strain the longstanding diplomatic relations between Beijing and Manila.

“While preventing the entry of foreign nationals into their territory is a country’s sovereign prerogative, such 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,” the DFA said.

In a separate statement, DFA spokesperson Rogelio Villanueva averred that while the Philippines values meaningful dialogue with its foreign counterparts, it urged the Chinese embassy to respond in a “calm and professional manner,” conscious of the mutual respect in diplomatic interactions.

“We urge the Chinese embassy to be constructive in its statements, fostering healthy dialogue despite major differences, with the goal of advancing the overall bilateral relationship,” Villanueva said.

Beijing on Tuesday banned 16 officials of Kalayaan — the country’s most remote and least populated town located in the West Philippine Sea — from entering China, including Hong Kong and Macao.

Beijing sees this as a tit-for-tat move after the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Jing Quan, was declared persona non grata in Kalayaan for allegedly interfering in Philippine internal affairs, violating Article 41, Section 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The provision explicitly stipulates that state parties to the treaty are bound not to interfere in the host state’s internal affairs. Both the Philippines and China are parties to the Vienna Convention.

The Kalayaan officials were signatories to the resolution passed by the town in late January, officially banning entry to Jing.

The officials are Beltzasar Alindogan, Maurice Phillip Alexis Albayda, Nonelon Balbontin, Nonie Gapuz, Roberto Asiado, Hubert Llavan, Francis Polizon, Marilou Vales, Monico Abogado, Eugenio Bito-onon, Hermoso Ornopia, Tracylie Shierjun Malabayabas, Arzel Belidan, Vicencio Milan, Allan Dellosa and Mary Cristina Lagrosa.

The declaration was seen as a double retaliatory move by China which, on the same day, issued an inflammatory statement against the Senate following its adoption of a resolution condemning Jing and other Chinese embassy officials.

The embassy’s spokesperson, Ji Lingpeng, criticized the so-called “anti-China” resolution as a “political stunt” and said that those who backed the adoption “disgrace themselves.”

The Chinese official also mocked the senators as being ignorant of how diplomacy works, yet being brazen enough to sabotage efforts to improve China-Philippines ties.

The Senate adopted the resolution to affirm its support for legislators and other key government officials, like Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the WPS Jay Tarriela, who are being targeted with indecent remarks by the Chinese embassy over the maritime dispute in the WPS.

Senator Erwin Tulfo, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, told reporters Wednesday that the DFA should summon Jing and urge him to “tone down” his statements against Philippine officials.

The verbal spat followed the embassy’s filing of two diplomatic protests compelling the Philippines to stop “turning a blind eye” and “tolerating” Tarriela’s orchestrating a “smear campaign” against President Xi Jinping.

The embassy specifically took offense at Tarriela’s Facebook post featuring a caricature of Xi with the title “Why China remains to be a bully” during a university forum in January.

The embassy had said that although Tarriela’s “malicious” social media posts against China have been a recurring issue, the particular post constituted a “blatant political provocation” that had “crossed the red line.”

Tarriela, in response, asserted that the diplomatic protests were a veiled effort by Beijing to “deflect” the issue from their relentless “aggressive and illegal actions” in the WPS.

China has repeatedly asserted its jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea, despite the 2016 arbitral ruling that declared Beijing’s expansive claims across the South China Sea invalid and without basis.

China’s ongoing verbal assaults against Philippine officials added to the series of Beijing’s past attacks against Filipino troops in the WPS, including military-grade laser pointing, boat collisions, and missile deployments, among others.