China tries to ‘set record straight’ over envoy’s remark on Filipino workers’ safety in Taiwan

During a forum, Huang Xilian’s comments caused an uproar for implying overseas Filipino workers in Taiwan could be at risk due to Philippines military drills with the US

The Chinese embassy provided a transcript ‘to set the record straight’, but there did not appear to be a difference in Huang’s comments and the embassy transcript

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Huang Xilian, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines: Photo: Facebook

Published: 5:35pm, 17 Apr 2023

China’s ambassador in the Philippines has said his recent remarks, suggesting that Manila was fuelling tensions in the Taiwan Strait through its ties with the United States, had been misconstrued, following the uproar over the matter in the Southeast Asian country.

In the speech on Friday about China-Philippine relations, Beijing’s top envoy to Manila Huang Xilian said the Philippine government’s decision to grant the US military wider access to some of its military bases had “caused widespread and grave concern among Chinese people”.

According to the transcript, Huang said: “The Philippines is advised to unequivocally oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait if you care genuinely about the 150,000 [overseas Filipino workers].”

Following fierce debate on social media over the comments, the Chinese embassy in Manila said on Twitter on Sunday that it “appreciated that there was extensive coverage on Ambassador Huang Xilian’s speech at the 8th Manila Forum”.

“Unfortunately some misquoted or misinterpreted Ambassador Huang’s remarks or simply took part of the Ambassador’s words out of context,” it added.

The embassy also provided a full transcript of his speech in order “to set the record straight.”

There appeared to be no discrepancy between the comments delivered at the forum – as reported by local media – and the transcript released by the embassy.