China vents fury at Philippines over Taiwan congratulations

China has summoned the Philippine ambassador after Manila congratulated the winner of Taiwan’s presidential election.

China lashed out on Tuesday, a day after Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos sent Taiwanese President-elect Lai Ching-te a note on his victory in the recent vote. The highly undiplomatic comments from Beijing, which warned Manila “not to play with fire,” will likely deepen the tension between the pair, which have been jousting over contesting territorial claims in the South China Sea.

In a social media post on Monday, Marcos told Lai, a staunch opponent of China and its claims to Taiwan, that he looks forward to cooperating.

“The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied and resolutely opposes” Marcos’s remarks, Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning said, urging Manila to give “a responsible explanation”.

The Philippines’ Foreign Ministry said that Marcos’s remarks were a way of recognising the Philippines and Taiwan’s “mutual interests”, including the 200,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on the island.

Credit: aljazeera.com

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