Senator hits China’s ‘two-faced diplomacy’

MANILA, Philippines — Contrary to its pronouncements, China is averse to dialogue as it continues its harassment of Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea, Sen. JV Ejercito said yesterday as he clapped back at the Chinese embassy for accusing him of “poisoning” Manila-Beijing ties with his stinging criticism of China’s maritime bullying.

“It is outright wrong for China to claim to be ‘properly managing maritime differences through dialogue and consultation.’ When it is, in fact, harassing our operations within our exclusive economic zone,” Ejercito said in a statement on Thursday.

In a statement on Dec. 20, the Chinese embassy lashed out at Ejercito for stating that China is funding a disinformation network to advance its agenda in the region, especially for the West Philippine Sea.

The embassy, through its spokesperson, said Ejercito is among the politicians using the West Philippine Sea issue to “poison” diplomatic ties between the Philippines and China.

“In the past few months, some Filipino politicians and officials, out of political self-interests, repeatedly dramatized and hyped up maritime differences between China and the Philippines, aiming at smearing and demonizing China and silencing the advocates of China-Philippines friendship,” the embassy said.

The embassy denied Ejercito’s claim that China was funding trolls to sow division among Filipinos on the South China Sea dispute.

“The allegation that China is tapping and funding Filipinos to destabilize the Philippines is categorically false and baseless. Who fabricated and provided such vicious intelligence reports? Out of what motivation?” the embassy said.

In response, the senator said China should adhere to the 2016 ruling of the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration, which invalidated its massive claim in the South China Sea and reaffirmed the Philippines’ maritime entitlements.

“I urge China to halt President Xi Jinping’s expansionist policies to prevent potential conflicts,” Ejercito said.

“The bottomline is to respect Philippine sovereignty and leave our territorial waters alone!” he added.

Ejercito’s Senate colleague Sherwin Gatchalian, meanwhile, urged the government to continue backchannel