MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine defence department has apologized to China for the “grievous but purely unintentional mistake” of using Taiwan’s defence ministry logo during a ceremony where the Chinese ambassador turned over assault rifles to the Filipino defence chief and top military commanders.
The Department of Defence of Manila said Monday that its chief, Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, issued an official apology to China through Beijing’s ambassador over the “technical lapse” in last week’s ceremony at military headquarters.
The department stressed that it and the military adhere to the “One China policy,” wherein the Philippine government recognizes only the People’s Republic of China as the sole sovereign state.
The department said, “It is our sincere hope that this very unfortunate incident will not affect the co-operative and friendly relations between our two countries.”