Was Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian just expressing his “concern” about overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan in his speech a few days ago? He said: “Some tried to find excuse for the new EDCA sites by citing the safety of the 150,000 OFWs in Taiwan, while China is the last country that wishes to see conflict over the Strait because people on both sides are Chinese. But we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities. The Philippines is advised to unequivocally oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs.”
The ambassador’s mouth is the cause of concern.
What is the role of Huang’s emotion against the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement? This question will lead us to be concerned about his words, which many viewed as a threat to the Taiwan-based OFWs.
Why – oh why – tell us not to interfere in the issue of Taiwan? Uncontrolled speeches such as his only convey heat. Who is he to order or lecture us not to interfere in Taiwan’s domestic issues like this? Manila is not doing anything or interfering in what is happening there.
He should have exchanged notes with diplomats so that we would know that the main reason Balikatan exists is for defense capability, modernization of equipment, assets, and development of the country’s infrastructure. He should not have thought that Balikatan was being held for the Taiwan issue.
Leaders of the country should speak more to further refute Huang’s illogical speech and/or better say that the ambassador does not think about what comes out of his mouth. He needs to be informed that the Philippines has no time to interfere in their problem, although Malacanang Palace has chosen to wait for further interpretation of Huang’s speech.
President Marcos leads us in that willingness to wait for that. He said: “I’ll be talking to the ambassador soon and I’m sure he will be very anxious to give his own interpretation of what he was trying to say… We were all a little surprised, but I just put it down to difference in language.”
If Huang does not stop, he may follow the advice of Senator Risa Hontiveros to send himself home to China and ask to be replaced by another ambassador who does not speak hastily, or undiplomatically.
In the same speech, Huang looked “forward to in-depth discussions and insights on issues regarding the South China Sea and regional peace and security.” Obviously, he did not listen to the Department of National Defense and the National Security Council’s clarifications that the enhancement of the country’s defense ties with the United States will be for the Philippines and the country will not allow other nations to drag Manila into their mess. Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said contingencies are already in place for OFWs in Taiwan.
Again, obviously, Beijing is good at bullying.
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
