A former top Philippines diplomat has urged Taiwan to "remember who its friends are", in comments that appear to suggest Taiwan is ungrateful for Manila's longstanding support for its political autonomy.
"Taiwan should remember we were the first ones to have these informal relations with them and we have substantial relations with them in terms of trade," said Lauro Baja, the former Philippines ambassador to the United Nations.
Baja said he decided to speak out as a citizen because of what he perceived was Taiwan's "overreaction" to the death of one of its fishermen on May 9 when a Philippines coastguard vessel fired at a Taiwanese fishing boat that Manila said was inside Philippine territory.
Baja said that, contrary to Taipei's claims that the incident occurred in disputed territory, Taiwan had long recognised the area as a part of Philippine waters.
"If you recall, during the time of [President] Cory Aquino, there was some sort of corridor established for Taiwanese fishermen" to pass through that area, he said. But Baja, once foreign affairs undersecretary for policy, did not know the status of that agreement because "it came from Malacanang Palace and did not pass through the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs]".
"With their entity being a province of China, giving sanctions and refusing to receive the representative of the president, what is that? Sometimes I feel we have these things coming to us because of our very timid diplomacy," Baja said.