Teodoro accuses China of blackmail over crackdown on 100 Filipinos
MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro Jr. has accused Beijing of extortion and blackmail after China announced it "took action" against more than 100 Filipinos for illegally staying in the country.
Teodoro raised the possibility that Chinese immigration authorities moved against Filipinos as retaliation for the arrest of Chinese workers in the Philippines, in a statement on Thursday, August 13.
"The action against 100 Filipinos is plain and simple extortion and blackmail," Teodoro said. "We strongly condemn both the attempt by China to interfere in our law enforcement processes and the blatant blackmail against Filipinos."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun confirmed the crackdown on the Filipinos at a press briefing August 10, saying immigration authorities had acted against over 100 Philippine nationals for illegal employment and illegal residence.
He was answering a question from Global Times on whether the move was China's response to the Philippines' frequent detention of Chinese nationals.
Guo said officers "carried out special operations in accordance with the law" and that the rights of the foreigners were protected.
'Principals of these illegal enterprises'
On Thursday, Teodoro stressed that the Chinese nationals arrested in the Philippines were rounded up on search warrants issued by Philippine courts, and that those taken into custody were the principals of the illegal enterprises, not rank-and-file workers.
He said Chinese officials have fixated on the work visas and passports of the arrested men while keeping silent about their alleged illegal acts.
"This is an admission by them that indeed the acts of these individuals were illegal under Philippine law," Teodoro said.
The defense chief said Filipinos in China have "neither the intent nor the capacity" to break Chinese law on the scale that Chinese nationals have broken Philippine law.
"The fact that the Chinese government is actively covering up for these individuals is the best evidence of their complicity in the nefarious acts of these people," he said.
If the Chinese nationals were not involved in defrauding Filipinos, Teodoro said, they would be treated like any other law-abiding foreigner living in the Philippines.
The May arrest of Chinese workers during a raid of a steel firm had strained relations between the two countries, itself already frayed by incidents in the South China Sea.
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