The Philippines’ National Security Council has urged the Foreign Ministry to expel Chinese diplomats for spreading false information about a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. It says they tried to divide the Filipino people.
Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano released a statement on Friday.
Ano alleges that the Chinese Embassy in Manila has been involved in “repeated acts of engaging in and dissemination of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation.” He says its aim is to sow “discord, division, and disunity.”
Ano was referring to China’s assertion that the two countries reached an agreement in January regarding resupply missions to a Philippine military hub in the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. The Philippines effectively controls the shoal.
The Philippine government denied the existence of an agreement and said China is waging an information war.
The Chinese Embassy had on Tuesday allegedly provided to Philippine media a recording of a purported phone conversation between a senior Philippine military official and a Chinese diplomat discussing the shoal.
Ano’s statement says recording such phone conversations violates the Philippines’ Anti-Wire Tapping Act and constitutes a “serious breaches of diplomatic protocols.”
The Philippine government asserts that even if the conversation had actually taken place, an agreement has not been reached between the two governments.