(Eagle News) — The Philippines will never be a province of China.
“It has never been any part of China. No, not now, not ever,” Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua told reporters on Tuesday, July 17.
Zhao made the comment in response to the “Welcome to the Philippines, Province of China” banners that were hung in some overpasses in Metro Manila on July 12, two years after the Philippines won the arbitration case against China.
According to Zhao, the banners were “a kind of vicious attack, not only on the relations between the two countries but also on the independent foreign policy of President Duterte and his administration.”
The Palace said “enemies” of the government were behind the putting up of the banners, which the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said it would remove.