We join Secretary Gilberto Teodoro in his call for the Department of Foreign Affairs to take appropriate actions against individuals in the Chinese Embassy who claim to have recorded an alleged phone conversation between a Chinese diplomat and a military official for violating Philippine laws, particularly the Anti-Wire Tapping Act, as well as for serious breaches of diplomatic protocols and conventions.
The Chinese Embassy’s repeated acts of engaging in and dissemination of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation – now releasing spurious transcripts or recordings of purported conversations between officials of the host country – should not be allowed to pass unsanctioned or without serious penalty.
We emphasize that the unmistakable objective of the PRC embassy in its indiscriminate releasing of these falsehoods and smears have been, and continues to be, to sow discord, division, and disunity between and among the Filipino people. Without a doubt, these are serious breaches of the basic norms of international relations and diplomacy by the embassy.
Bypassing official and long established channels and protocols, talking to officials without the requisite authorities or bona fides, then maliciously claiming that alleged discussions should bind the PH government is farcical, foolish, and reckless.
Those individuals in the Chinese Embassy responsible for violating Philippine laws and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and those responsible for these malign influence and interference operations must be removed from the country immediately.
