Philippines Slams China Envoy's 'Thinly Veiled Threat' — SkimNews
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- Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on October 16, 2026, publicly criticized Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan's remarks, saying they sounded "very much to me like a threat and it is not a very diplomatic statement to be made"
- Jing Quan, speaking at a Manila forum on October 15, 2026, told reporters: "If we want to use force, we may easily win. But no, we will not choose force and we love peace," and pointed to Ukraine, Gaza, and Venezuela as regions without peace
- Jing Quan was responding to Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.'s characterization of China as a "troublemaker" in the region, dismissing it as "nonsense"
- The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it was "regrettable" that Jing "had a poor choice of words that would seem to convey a thinly veiled threat of the use of force" and urged diplomats to take greater care with public language
- The Chinese Embassy pushed back, accusing the Philippine DFA of taking Jing's statement "out of context" and using "selective quotation and overinterpretation," and warned that "China-Philippines relations are currently at an extremely sensitive stage"
- In June 2026, China banned Teodoro and his family from entering China, Hong Kong, and Macao over "irresponsible remarks" that Beijing said undermined its interests
Why it matters: The exchange deepens an already fraught bilateral relationship at a moment when Manila has become one of Beijing's sharpest critics over the South China Sea, a key global trade route claimed almost entirely by China. Beijing's refusal to walk back the ambassador's comments—instead accusing the Philippines of "overinterpretation"—signals that diplomatic tensions are likely to keep escalating rather than cool.
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