Año: Expel those behind China embassy ‘new model’ recording from PH

MANILA, Philippines — Chinese Embassy personnel claiming to have an audio recording of the “new model” agreement in the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal should be kicked out of the country for wiretapping and “serious breaches of diplomatic protocols and conventions.”

National Security Adviser Eduardo Año made this remark on Friday, echoing Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.’s call to investigate the Chinese Embassy’s claims.

READ: China embassy’s ‘barking’ violates wiretapping law if claims true — Teodoro

“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,” Año said in a statement.

“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,” Año said.

READ: China, PH agreed on ‘new model’ for management at Ayungin — Chinese spox 

According to a Manila Times report, the Chinese Embassy presented a supposed transcript of a conversation between Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) Western command chief Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos and a Chinese diplomat, claiming they also have an audio recording of the exchange pertaining to the “new model” of conduct in the Ayungin Shoal.

The Times further reported that a ranking Chinese official on Tuesday presented a recorded phone conversation in which Carlos purportedly said that the entire AFP was on board the new pact in dealing with the situation on the shoal.

Carlos has been on personal leave since May 3, according to AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla.

However, Padilla said this leave has nothing to do with the controversy.

To recall, the China Coast Guard used water cannons against a Philippine vessel in Ayungin Shoal on March 23, which seriously injured three Navy personnel in what Manila considered to be the worst incident of the dispute with Beijing thus far.

The resupply mission in Ayungin Shoal, where the BRP Sierra Madre is aground, became one of the flashpoints of tension between Manila and Beijing.

Furthermore, Año said heads should roll amid the Chinese Embassy’s repeated acts of “disinformation, misinformation, and misinformation.”

“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,” Año said.

“We emphasize that the unmistakable objective of the PRC embassy in its indiscriminate releasing of these falsehoods and smears has 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,” Año continued.

He added, “Bypassing official and long-established channels and protocols, talking to officials without the requisite authorities or bona fides, and then maliciously claiming that alleged discussions should bind the Philippine government is farcical, foolish, and reckless.”