Manila’s top envoy to Beijing hails landmark deal opening up China to influx of 500,000 migrant workers – but Hong Kong may pay the price
Agreement would provide 300,000 with legal employment status, as rights group calls for amnesty for 200,000 working illegally in China
A top-level Philippine envoy to Beijing on Wednesday revealed that the two countries were close to a deal which would see the number of Filipino migrants employed in China swell to 500,000 – more than double the estimated current total.
The landmark agreement would grant legal employment status to 300,000 Philippine nationals and was expected to be signed by the end of this year, William J Lima, Manila’s special envoy to China, said.
“Relations between the Philippines and China are particularly good at the moment and I expect this deal can be concluded before the end of this year,” Lima said on the sidelines of a forum in Hong Kong.
The special envoy, appointed by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to deal with Beijing on a range of key economic and trade issues, estimated that “around 200,000” Filipinos were working illegally in China, most of them domestic workers.
“With the 300,000 we expect to be permitted to work legally in mainland China under the deal, added to the 200,000 black market workers we estimate are already working there, that would make the total number close to half a million,” he said.