Aquino praises removal of Chinese-made globes from sale

Philippine President Benigno Aquino has expressed delight over the swift removal by the country's largest bookstore chain of all globes depicting China's claim to all of South China Sea.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario wrote to National Book Store chief purchaser Cecilia Ramos Licauco: "I personally shared this with the president and he was delighted and proud of your management's selfless and patriotic action."

"We are entering a critical juncture following our initiation of Arbitral Proceedings against China on the nine-dash line to bring a durable solution," Del Rosario said. He commended the store for its "strong sense of nationalism over and above economic profit".

The bookstore with more than 100 branches last week removed the China-made globes after a Filipino engineer complained. The Philippines also claims parts of the same territory in the South China Sea.

One supplier, who asked not to be named, said: "We are sorry and hope to address the issue and have the manufacturer [in China] do the right thing, so it will not be a misinformation."

She said she did not know how much the withdrawing the globes would cost her. "It will be a loss on our part and that of the store. But it doesn't matter - if have to stop selling, we just have to stop selling."

The Chinese embassy in Manila has yet to comment.