Ang See slams ‘Sinophobia, racism’ over Chinese students

MANILA, Philippines — Civic leader Teresita Ang See has branded as “dangerous and unfortunate”what she described as the Sinophobia and racism that emerged amid reports on the influx of Chinese students in Cagayan.

“The past days’ preoccupation with deliberate fanning of Sinophobia and racism by politicians and media spreading baseless whodunits of ‘students as spies’ is dangerous and unfortunate,” Ang See said at a media forum over the weekend.

“Politicians, opinion makers, our military and police scramble to ride on the issue without checking the facts,” she added.

Ang See also called out the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for saying that there was a “significant number” of Chinese students at St. Paul University in Tuguegarao without providing context.

She pointed out that St. Paul University is the only education institution authorized by CHED and the Bureau of Immigration to accept foreign students.

She also noted that contrary to circulating reports that there were 4,600 foreign students at St. Paul University, only 486 were enrolled.

“The baseless and deliberate fanning of negative news on ‘influx of Chinese students’ serves only to exacerbate the ongoing geopolitical tensions arising from our maritime conflict with China,” she said.

The civic leader also claimed that it was “not a coincidence” that the issue came on the heels of the tripartite summit among the United States, Japan and the Philippines or the Balikatan exercises being undertaken.

“Negative news like the exaggerated influx of Chinese students are further churning the waters into a potentially dangerous tsunami,” Ang See said.

“Truly, conflating geopolitical tensions with racism and Sinophobia has no part in our civilized Christian society,” she added.

But for Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, the influx of Chinese students in Cagayan is a reason to worry or ask questions while there are other universities or colleges in different parts of the country that offer quality education.

“The Chinese nationals who are studying there in the province of Cagayan. Of course, we can’t get those thoughts out of our minds. Maybe, what is that? Our national sovereignty might be in danger,” Estrada, who chairs