Coronavirus: outbreak exposes anti-Chinese sentiment in the Philippines

Ethnic Chinese organisations in the country have called for calm amid an uptick in ‘anti-China racist stereotypes and xenophobic attacks’

Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Duterte has come in for criticism thanks to his earlier refusal to impose a total ban on Chinese visitors

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People queue to buy protective masks at a medical supplies store in Manila. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:39pm, 2 Feb 2020Updated: 12:31am, 19 Mar 2020

A racist undercurrent of anti-Chinese attitudes has been exposed in the Philippines by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 300 lives worldwide.

On Sunday, Manila confirmed that a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan had died of the virus – the first fatality outside China – prompting tighter travel restrictions on both foreigners and Filipinos, as well as a torrent of negative backlash against President Rodrigo Duterte.

The man who died was a companion of a 38-year-old Chinese woman, also from the city at the epicentre of the outbreak, who was the first to test positive for the virus in the Philippines.

Not long after the Philippine health department announced that first coronavirus case on Friday, Adamson University in Manila openly called for its “Chinese” students to stop coming to classes until February 14. The university has since apologised “for the misimpression it may have created”.

Such outbursts have prompted ethnic Chinese organisations in the Philippines to donate face masks and appeal for calm.

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