Holding OFWs as hostage? Migrante condemns Chinese envoy’s statement
MANILA, Philippines — Migrante International, a global coalition of OFW groups and their families, condemned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian’s statement where they said Beijing “makes it appear that China is holding OFWs in Taiwan hostage.”
Last week, Huang “advised” the Philippines against supporting Taiwan’s independence if it “cares genuinely” about the 150,000 OFWs based there, instead of “stoking the fire” by giving the United States access to military bases.
The group noted that this may expose OFWs to racist violence when armed conflict begins. If China really is against having troops of the United States in the Philippines, Migrante International said Beijing should start ceasing its aggressive actions against Manila.
“The biggest contribution that you can give to the opposition to US military bases, troops, and exercises in the Philippines is the cessation of your aggressive assertion of your claims over territories that are also being claimed by the Philippines,” the coalition said in a statement on Sunday.
“With its actions, China has presented itself as a convenient bogeyman that requires US presence and intervention in the region – a notion that is incorrect, even as it is influential.”
Washington has continuously expressed its commitment to its Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines. At a recent dialogue with Manila’s top foreign and defense officials, both countries called on China to comply with the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea, which held that some areas China is claiming is already under the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
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Beijing has continuously called the award “illegal, null, and void” and has harassed Filipino fishermen and Philippine vessels while in Philippine waters. Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo in a forum last week said the “repeated infringements” on the Philippines’ sovereignty “necessitates the enhancement of our defense capabilities.”
Labor export program
However, Migrante International also noted that the Philippines’ labor export program and the non-inclusion of OFW concerns in crafting international policy also put the OFWs in Taiwan at risk.
It called the Philippines out for its supposed “puppetry to the US” and opposed the US military presence in the Philippines
“Faced with China’s aggressive assertion of its claims on Philippine territory, the Philippine government should exhaust all peaceful means of asserting Philippine sovereignty, and not look for militarist solutions which only lead to depending on the US,” it said in a separate statement dated April 15.
Beyond the US, the Philippines has sought to expand defense ties with “like-minded” nations such as Japan and India.
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