Aquino: China name-calling way of dodging issue

President Benigno Aquino III. AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — If you can’t answer the issue, you revert to name-calling. That’s how President Benigno Aquino III on Friday described the latest tirade against him by Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

In an ambush interview after the Philippine Army change of command ceremony in Fort Bonifacio, Aquino said he was thankful for the commentary by Ming Jinwei who called him “ignorant” and an “amateurish politician” for his comparison of China and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

“Pasalamat na lang ako sa Xinhua dahil parang nare-affirm yung validity ng ating posisyon. May kasabihan na pag hindi mo kayang sagutin yung issue, mag name-calling ka na lang,” he said.

(I am grateful to Xinhua because they somehow reaffirmed the validity of our position. There is a saying that if you can’t answer the issue, you revert to name-calling.)

Aquino advised the writer to instead argue about the merits of their claims on the disputed territories, “if the claims are indeed plausible.”

Ming called Aquino “ignorant of history and reality” for comparing the territorial dispute of China and the Philippines to what happened prior to World War II.

The President, in an exclusive interview with The New York Times, said, “At what point do you say, ‘Enough is enough’? Well, the world has to say it — remember that the Sudetenland was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War II.”