MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos on Friday said he would summon Beijing’s ambassador over what he believed were the envoy’s threatening and undiplomatic remarks that China could “easily win” if it chose to use force against the Philippines.
“I think that deserves a discussion between the ambassador and myself,” Mr. Marcos told reporters.
He said Ambassador Jing Quan’s statement a day earlier “sounds very much to me like a threat, and it is not a very diplomatic statement to make.”
“So, we perhaps would like to understand what exactly it is that he means,” he added.
READ: Marcos to summon Chinese envoy over ‘threatening’ remarks
Palace press officer Claire Castro said Malacañang has yet to set the schedule of the meeting between the President and Jing.
Just seven months after he was posted to Manila, Jing was summoned to Malacañang for the first time in July following a reported assault by China Coast Guard personnel on a Philippine Navy sailor at Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal and a video by the state-run China Daily depicting Filipinos as monkeys and US puppets.
The Chinese Embassy said late Friday that it welcomed the opportunity for a “face-to-face” talk with Mr. Marcos.
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“Ambassador Jing looks forward to exchanging views on certain important and sensitive issues with the President, especially how to prevent some individuals from pushing bilateral relations into a dangerous situation,” the embassy said in a statement, referring to critics of aggressive actions by Chinese forces against Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea.
The latest controversy was sparked by remarks made Thursday by Jing when he was asked by reporters to comment on a statement by Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. that “China alone is the troublemaker” in Southeast Asia.
READ: Marcos: PH will not be a ‘belligerent nation’ in China-Taiwan tensions
“That’s nonsense,” he said on the sidelines of the second Diliman Dialogues organized by the Philippines-China Studies Center of Diliman College in Quezon City.
“We should feel fortunate enough that you have a neighbor like China in this region,” he added. “If we want to use force, we may easily win. But no, we will not choose force, and we love peace. In this region, we enjoy peace.”
The ambassador had expressed the same theme in a Lunar New Year message in February this year when he said that Chinese culture deeply valued harmony with neighbors and that “a close neighbor matters more than a distant relative.”
“One may win a confrontation with a smaller neighbor, but risk losing a long-term relationship. That is why China consistently advocates dialogue: sitting down, talking things through, and finding ways to manage differences,” he said.
‘Poor choice of words’
Jing’s latest remarks highlight the deteriorating ties between the Philippines and China over their decadeslong maritime dispute that has sparked criticisms against Chinese actions in the West Philippine Sea and Beijing’s claim that certain quarters were fueling hatred toward China.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday described Jing’s statement as a threat that could further strain ties between the countries.
“It is regrettable that Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan today had a poor choice of words that would seem to convey a thinly veiled threat of the use of force, which is hardly helpful in the context of the complicated bilateral ties between the Philippines and China,” the DFA said in a statement.
Embassy’s retort
Diplomacy requires “tact and restraint” to allow dialogue and engagement to continue despite differences in positions, it added.
In a statement on Friday, the Chinese Embassy criticized the DFA for its “selective quotation and overinterpretation” of Jing’s remarks.
“China-Philippines relations are currently at an extremely sensitive stage,” the embassy said. “We urge the DFA to play a more responsible role in preventing such actions, thereby ensuring that China-Philippines relations are not pushed into a dangerous and uncertain situation.”
Not a mere slip
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing’s position on the bilateral relationship “is clear,” adding that “we hope the Philippine side can understand it comprehensively and accurately.”
Teodoro, one of the harshest Filipino critics of Beijing, fully supported the DFA, saying that Jing was intimidating the Philippines. In June, Beijing banned Teodoro from entering Chinese territories.
He said in an interview with dzMM on Friday that defense officials were studying the ambassador’s statement “because that was not just a slip of the tongue.”
He said Jing’s remarks made public the warnings that China had previously conveyed privately about crossing its supposed red lines.
Respect, not war
Teodoro also said the statements against him had become personal and “no longer about policy.”
Jing also warned on Thursday that Manila faced greater risks of confrontation and would be the loser if it did not restore direct military-to-military communications with Beijing, which Teodoro suspended about three years ago.
The defense chief expressed concern that China could use the suspended communications to blame the Philippines for a future action by Beijing.
Teodoro defended the suspension of the communications between the two militaries, saying that these offered no benefit to the Philippines. He earlier said that Beijing allegedly abused the channels and distorted narratives.
Nevertheless, bilateral communications remained open through the DFA and the Philippine Coast Guard, he said.
“It’s not war that we want. What we want is to be respected,” Teodoro said.
Several lawmakers have also slammed the Chinese ambassador’s latest statements.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian supported the President’s move to summon the Chinese ambassador, saying that Jing should be asked to apologize.
“It is not right for a foreigner in our country to threaten us. That’s undiplomatic and uncalled for,” he told reporters.
Not enough for Risa
Gatchalian said the ambassador should avoid statements that could worsen the maritime dispute between China and the Philippines.
“It’s true we have a problem in the West Philippine Sea, but he shouldn’t add to it,” he said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros demanded that Jing retract his “threat” or be declared a persona non grata.
“An ambassador who threatens his host country has crossed a line. Summoning him is not enough,” she said in a statement. “The Philippine government must demand a formal retraction and apology from Beijing.”
Hontiveros said Jing’s remarks were a “gray zone aggression in diplomatic form, meant to intimidate and coerce while stopping just short of war.”
She said such threats would not make Philippines “surrender what is rightfully ours.”
“The Philippines has only done what every law-abiding member of the community of nations would do — defend our rights through legal and diplomatic means,” she said.
The Chinese ambassador’s statement should be reported to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and to the United Nations General Assembly, she said.
“When one nation is threatened, every member-state that values international law is threatened too. China must be held accountable for these words, as she must be for her actions in our waters,” she said.
‘Nobody can bully PH’
Sen. Erwin Tulfo, the Senate foreign relations panel vice chair, expressed similar sentiments, stressing that Jing’s statement should not be taken lightly.
“Let there be no doubt: Nobody in this world can bully the Philippines—whether through words or by force. Our sovereignty is not negotiable, our dignity is not for sale, and our resolve must never be mistaken for weakness,” Tulfo said, adding that “the Filipino people will not back down in the face of these threats.”
As a former colony, the Philippines will resist foreign invaders “if its sovereignty is threatened once more.” —WITH REPORTS FROM AP AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
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