PH envoy: US doing ‘best it can under circumstances’ to curb attacks vs Asian-Americans

MANILA, Philippines — The United States government is doing the best it can to address the surge in attacks against Asian-Americans there, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said Tuesday.

Romualdez said the US government has implemented several measures to protect Asian-Americans following the recent surge of attacks, which the ambassador dubbed as “alarming.”

“It’s almost impossible that a country like the United States will not do something about it because as I said, this is a multi-racial—this is a country that has many races,” Romualdez said in an interview with INQUIRER.net’s INQside Look.

“I think they’re doing the best they can under the circumstances. They cannot do more than what they have already done and I think the fact that they are focusing and giving attention to this is already an indication that this is a very serious crime that they are doing,” he added.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that the attack on the 65-year old woman, who was kicked in the stomach and head, could “influence” Philippine foreign policy.

According to Romualdez, ambassadors of various Asian countries have already raised their concerns over the recent attacks on the Asian-American community to the White House.

While Romualdez said that he believes the US has put up measures to address the attacks, he said the Philippine government is ready to change its foreign policy. He, however, stressed that he doesn’t believe it would reach that point.

“Let’s say for instance, which I doubt will happen, if let’s say the US government does not do anything about it, then obviously we would have to react in the foreign policy level. We have to do something to protect our citizens—our Filipino-Americans in the United States—just like any country would,” Romualdez said.

“This is something that will happen if nothing is being done, but I can assure the Secretary and of course assure our countrymen that United States is doing something about it. It is important for them,” he added.

JE