Palace denies summoning Chinese envoy

FILE: Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua. (PNA Photo)

MANILA — Malacañang denied that it summoned Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua to discuss the alleged ramming and abandonment of a Chinese vessel to a Filipino fishing boat near the Recto Bank (Reed Bank) in the West Philippine Sea on June 9.

Inquirer.net published an article claiming that Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana confirmed to reporters after the 121st Philippine Navy Anniversary on Monday that Zhao was summoned to Malacañang to explain the incident.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, however, dismissed the Inquirer report as false.

“The report by the Inquirer that it was agreed during the cluster Cabinet to summon the Chinese Ambassador is not true,” Panelo said in a statement.

Panelo said that although Lorenzana suggested to invite and not summon Zhao, the Cabinet cluster did not adopt his proposal.

“A Cabinet member (Lorenzana) suggested that the Chinese (Ambassador) be invited, not summon, for a discussion on the collision. The suggestion was not adopted by the cluster Cabinet,” Panelo said.

He, meanwhile, reiterated that the Palace will await the final findings of both the Philippine and Chinese governments before agreeing on how to resolve the issue.

In a speech during the same event, Duterte explained that he would rather wait for results of an investigation before making any statements.

“It’s a maritime incident. It is best investigated and I will not issue a statement now because there is no investigation and there is no result. Then the only thing that we can do is to wait and give the other party the right to be heard,” Duterte said in his speech.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

filed a diplomatic protest against China in relation to the alleged abandonment of Filipino fishermen at sea.

The Chinese embassy in Manila denied the abandonment, saying the Chinese captain tried to rescue the Filipino fishermen “but was afraid of being besieged by other Filipino fishing boats”.

Captain of the sunken F/B GEM-VIR1 Junel Insigne claimed the Chinese vessel stopped for a while but instead of rescuing them, the vessel left the sinking Filipino fishing boat until they were eventually rescued by a Vietnamese vessel.