Sharp barbs traded over espionage row

A war of words has erupted between the Chinese Embassy in Manila and the maritime research group SeaLight over allegations that Beijing was using a Filipino-Chinese federation and Chinese-language education programs to advance the political interests of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Philippines.

The exchange followed a SeaLight investigation into the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Associations of the Philippines (FFCAP) that was published by its director, retired US Air Force Col. Ray Powell.

Powell was a recent guest on Daily Tribune’s online program, Straight Talk.

The SeaLight report alleged that the FFCAP operates under the guidance of the Chinese Embassy and the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), while cloaked under the guise of “camaraderie.”

According to SeaLight, the FFCAP was founded in 1977 with the help of China’s first ambassador to the Philippines, Ke Hua.

Its current officers, the report said, took their oath of office before the Chinese ambassador. The group’s history, as cited by SeaLight, credits the embassy’s “vigorous support” with growing it to a more than 200-member organization.

SeaLight said FFCAP’s purpose depends on its audience. In Chinese-language materials, the group describes its mission as promoting friendship, Chinese culture, and the “complete reunification of the motherland,” in coordination with the embassy and Beijing’s overseas Chinese agencies.

But in its 2007 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it described its purpose only as promoting “good relations and camaraderie among Filipino-Chinese associations.”

The report said the FFCAP has no website or social media presence in English or Tagalog. It communicates mainly through press releases to Chinese-language dailies in Manila.

SeaLight also questioned the group’s finances. Its 2025 audited accounts reportedly showed an income of P590,000, current assets of P11,631, and no employees.

Yet in September 2025, the federation gave P1.5 million to the Federation of Chinese Schools for teacher awards, about two and a half times its reported yearly income. The donation does not appear in its SEC filings, SeaLight said. Five such gifts since 2021 totaled P7.5 million.

The report said three-quarters of FFCAP’s trustees are declared Chinese nationals and that no public list of its members exists. The only sworn roster, filed in 2007, named 11 associations topped by the Philippine Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, which SeaLight has linked to the UFWD.

It also cited an 11 September gathering in Manila where FFCAP hosted the Federation of ASEAN Fujian Associations’ second convention. Delegations from 10 Southeast Asian countries attended, along with a Fujian provincial official who urged participants to “vividly tell China’s story.”

SeaLight said Fujian, the ancestral home of most Chinese-Filipinos, is a hub of united front work targeting Taiwan and the Hokkien-speaking diaspora.

Embassy’s response

Chinese Embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng rejected the report, saying the embassy “firmly rejects the baseless accusations and strongly denounces the malicious smear campaigns” against educational and people-to-people exchanges, including Chinese-language education in the country.

Responding to a question that the embassy itself published, Ji said Chinese-language teachers served as “a bridge” between the two countries. The question claimed that many teachers were leaving the Philippines out of safety concerns, a situation it blamed on Powell, SeaLight, and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

Ji urged Manila to ensure the safety and rights of Chinese nationals in the country.

SeaLight said the embassy wrote both the question and the answer. It noted that the safety claim appears only in the question and that the embassy offered no specifics.

The group asked what role the embassy plays in carrying out Article 38 of the party’s regulations on united front work, which directs overseas Chinese affairs work to “cultivate resources” and promote “the unification of China.”

It also asked which Filipino-Chinese organizations, schools, and teachers the embassy works with, and what funding or guidance it provides.

SeaLight said it has no objection to good-faith educational exchanges, but that such programs should disclose their ties to foreign governments and parties. It said a Chinese university that labeled Batanes province as Chinese territory also trains Manila’s Chinese-language teachers and was “jointly constructed” with UFWD help, according to its own website.

SeaLight likened the “safety” argument to past Chinese practice. It cited the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff when Beijing issued a safety warning and suspended tours, and similar episodes involving South Korea, Australia, Palau and Japan.

“Scrutiny of a foreign government’s influence programs is not hostility toward ethnically Chinese people,” SeaLight said, adding that Chinese-Filipinos “ought not to be exploited as instruments of Beijing’s foreign policy.”