The Philippines said the detention of three Filipinos in China for alleged espionage may be in retaliation for Manila’s recent arrests of Chinese nationals accused of spying.
The Filipinos were former scholars of the Hainan provincial government under an agreement with Palawan province in the Philippines, the National Security Council said in a statement on Saturday without identifying the individuals.
They have no military training “with no criminal records and were vetted and screened by the Chinese government prior to their arrival there”, it said.
“Given the limited information released by Chinese media, the arrests can be seen as a retaliation for the series of legitimate arrests of Chinese agents and accomplices by Philippine law enforcement and counter-intelligence agencies in recent months,” the statement read.
Beijing said on Thursday that it had detained three Filipinos who it claimed were operatives for Manila and carried out secret intelligence tasks in China. It said the espionage case against David Servañez, Albert Endencia and Nathalie Plizardo is under investigation.
The latest flare-up could heighten tensions between the two countries that are already engaged in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea, as Manila pushes back against Beijing’s expansive claims in the resource-rich waterway.
Philippine authorities arrested several Chinese nationals earlier this year for alleged espionage, including six last month who were suspected of carrying out intelligence and surveillance operations of critical infrastructure in the country.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr earlier said he was “very disturbed” over the increasing number of alleged Chinese spies arrested in the Philippines, which has prompted security officials to tighten monitoring.
The Philippines’ security council said that a video released by China’s state broadcaster in which the three Filipinos expressed regret “appear to be scripted, strongly suggesting that (the confessions) were not made freely”.
The security council said it was working with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine embassy in Beijing to ensure that the Filipinos receive appropriate legal support and are accorded due process.
“We urge the Chinese government to respect their rights and afford them every opportunity to clear their names in the same way that the rights of Chinese nationals are respected here in the Philippines,” it added.
