EDITORIAL - Beware of sinophobia

Just recently there was a report that over 4,000 Chinese students reportedly enrolled in a single university in Tuguegarao City.

The timing of this report couldn’t have been worse; the Balikatan exercises had then just begun, giving rise to suspicions about what they are actually about. There were also talks they were sent here to spy on EDCA sites.

But in a GMA online news report, Tuguegarao Mayor Maila Ting-Que denied claims that there is a surge in Chinese students in the city, particularly not over 4,000 Chinese students enrolling in just one university.

“Masama ang loob namin kasi nag-react kami, kasi nagulat kami. If you want to call an investigation, why involve us? Why claim that we sponsored the students themselves? Nakakalungkot kasi bumira kaagad --Chinese student, suspicious activities ang nakalagay,” Ting-Que said.

The same report says there is also no reported “suspicious activities”, this from the Tuguegarao City Police themselves.

“Nag-isyu ako ng certification regards with that kasi wala naman talagang incident, dito sa Tuguegarao City, involving Chinese nationals. Not even kahit student o tourist, wala. We have checked on our crime incident reporting,” said Police Lieutenant Colonel Jhonalyn Tecbobolan, chief of Tuguegarao City Police Station.

We aren’t surprised how the reports became quickly exaggerated or even unbelievable.

Our tension with China over the West Philippine Sea, the detrimental presence of POGOs and fake call centers run by Chinese syndicates, among other things, fuel suspicion over anything Chinese.

In this volatile situation it is so easy for many of us to become so suspicious. Many people, including lawmakers, readily blame Chinese people or China for anything bad that happens.

This can lead to sinophobia; the fear or dislike of Chinese people and Chinese culture. This is not to be confused with xenophobia, which is a fear of foreigners in general. But, of course, the results are the same; a group becomes targeted and marginalized even if they don’t really deserve it.

There are now too many places in the world consumed by hate for people from another place, often for no substantial reason other than misunderstanding and bias. We don’t want to become another one of those places; certainly not with so many of our own countrymen also trying to make a living in different parts of the world.