DFA: Beijing resto’s anti-Pinoy stance a ‘private view’

Photo courtesy of Rose Tang

At a press briefing in Manila, Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said the Philippines, however, is hoping that such act is not sanctioned by the Chinese government.

“We think that the notice that was posted on that shop in Beijing is a private view about the whole situation that is happening between the Philippines and China, and we hope that it is not a state policy not to allow Filipinos to get to restaurants in Beijing,” Hernandez said.

He was reacting to an Agence France-Presse photograph of the restaurant bearing a signage in Chinese and English that said the “shop does not welcome Japanese, Filipinos, and Vietnamese, and dogs.”

Hernandez said the DFA is not aware of any Filipino in China who has been discriminated in Chinese restaurants in Beijing.

“We have not received any reports of that nature,” he said. “This is an isolated incident. This is the first time that such incident was reported.”

China is locked in tense territorial disputes with Japan over islands, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu or Diaoyutai in Chinese, and with the Philippines and Vietnam over the oil-rich South China Sea.

Manila has taken China to a United Nations arbitration body to complain what it calls Beijing’s “excessive” claim to waters where undersea gas deposits have been discovered in several areas. Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan are also staking claims to the waters, in which some parts are called West Philippine Sea by the Philippines.

Overlapping claims to the contested waters, islands and reefs, has been feared to be Asia’s next potential flashpoint for war.

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