The government has summoned China’s envoy to Manila, expressing concern over Beijing’s recent rare move to sanction a former senator who it accused of improper behaviour on issues related to China.
While implementing sanctions is within China’s prerogative, “the imposition of punitive measures against democratically elected officials for their official acts is inconsistent with the norms of mutual respect and dialogue that underpin relations between two equal sovereign states,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma Theresa Lazaro said in a statement read by Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro yesterday.
