MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna this week met with two top diplomats from China and Ireland who vowed to improve ties with the city government.
Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian and Irish Ambassador William Carlos paid courtesy calls on Lacuna last Tuesday.
Carlos said 20,000 Filipinos are working in Ireland, mostly in the health sector.
“They have received recognition from the Irish president, and we will work hard to ensure that Filipinos are respected enough in Ireland,” he said.
Lacuna welcomed the Irish community in Manila.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Facebook, Huang congratulated Lacuna for being the city’s first woman mayor in 451 years.
“We share lots of precious memories of cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation,” Huang said.
Huang paid the courtesy visit days before Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, in a press conference on Wednesday, rejected the Philippines’ win in The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration that invalidated Beijing’s sweeping nine-dash-line claim over the South China Sea.