Philippine Senator Files Resolution to Expel China Envoy — SkimNews
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- Senator Erwin Tulfo filed Senate Resolution No. 739 calling on the DFA to declare Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan persona non grata, expressing the Senate's "serious concern" over remarks Jing made on October 16 at the Philippines-China Studies Center at Diliman College in Quezon City.
- Ambassador Jing Quan told the forum that while China could "easily win" against the Philippines if it chose force, "we will not choose force, and we love peace" — a statement Philippine officials read as a veiled threat.
- Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro summoned Jing to express Manila's "serious concern and strong objection," calling the comments "provocative and unacceptable," after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the remarks "sounds very much like a threat."
- The Chinese Embassy fired back on Facebook: "We are fed up with these old and low tricks. If they really want to do something, do it quickly and immediately, please" — implicitly threatening the reciprocal expulsion of the Philippine ambassador to Beijing.
- Jing had already been summoned by Manila in July after a Philippine marine was injured in a melee with the China Coast Guard at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands — one of several recent confrontations involving ramming tactics and water cannons over contested South China Sea features.
- The DFA is unlikely to declare Jing persona non grata, but the public tit-for-tat between the Senate and the Chinese Embassy crystallizes how far China-Philippines bilateral relations have fallen.
Why it matters: For Manila, the rhetorical spat raises the prospect of a formal downgrade of its top envoy in Beijing, with the Chinese Embassy publicly daring senators to follow through and implying reciprocal expulsion of the Philippine ambassador. Even if the DFA declines to act, the public escalation crystallizes the deepest bilateral crisis since the July South China Sea clash at Second Thomas Shoal.
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