China issues travel warning on Phl

MANILA, Philippines - China warned its citizens yesterday not to travel to the Philippines after a Chinese teenager who worked in a family-run store was kidnapped Thursday in Zamboanga-Sibugay.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also said it was worried because of plots confirmed by the Philippine police that criminal groups planned to attack the Chinese embassy, Chinese companies and public venues such as malls.

“Given that the safety situation in the Philippines is deteriorating, the consular service of the foreign ministry is asking Chinese nationals not to travel to the Philippines for the time being,” the warning read.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), on the other hand, has reassured the Chinese embassy in Manila of appropriate and necessary protection to guard against threats and prevent any violent incidents.

“We have also reassured them that the appropriate Philippine authorities are fully investigating the group associated with the three suspects in the NAIA Terminal 3 incident on Sept. 1, 2014,” the DFA said in a statement, referring to foiled bombing attempt of an anti-Chinese group.

Lingxiao Li, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, said that under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, “the host country is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of diplomatic missions against any intrusion or damage, and prevent any attack on diplomatic staff.”

The DFA sent a note verbale to the Chinese embassy to assure them that the planned anti-China attacks are not a government policy.

A group was arrested over a foiled attempt to bomb the airport. The group was also allegedly planning to attack the Chinese embassy, among other targets, to espouse a tougher stance in the territorial dispute with China.

The travel warning comes as relations between the countries have soured and even turned hostile in recent years as Beijing and Manila battle over claims to the same territories in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). – AP, Pia Lee-Brago