Philippine official says China trying to influence its elections
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said last week that Beijing has “no interest in interfering in Philippine elections.”
A Philippine national security official said China is "attempting to influence" the Southeast Asian nation's midterm elections next month after Beijing asserted sovereignty over an uninhabited reef in the South China Sea.
"To me, it also validates the findings of the security and intelligence sector. It also validates our position that they are attempting to influence our elections because the timing is suspect insofar as I am concerned," National Security Council Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said in a briefing Monday.
China's embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said last week that Beijing has "no interest in interfering in Philippine elections."
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Malaya said there is "no truth whatsoever" to the Chinese coast guard's claim that Sandy Cay had been seized. Sandy Cay is near Philippines-occupied Thitu Island in the Spratlys. Beijing has continued to assert expansive claims over the strategic waterway despite a 2016 international tribunal's ruling that rejected those claims.
China's Global Times reported last week that its coast guard landed and planted a Chinese flag over Sandy Cay — known as Tiexian Jiao to China — in mid-April. By displaying the national flag, Beijing's latest assertion of sovereignty is a step-up from its longstanding rhetorical claim over the expansive area and risks escalating tensions in the disputed waterway.
The Philippines is set to hold its midterm elections on May 12 for 12 members of the Senate, more than 300 seats in the House of Representatives and nearly 18,000 local officials.
Allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. have been dominating surveys on preferred senatorial candidates ahead of the vote. The Marcos government has been pushing back against China's sweeping claims in the resource-rich South China Sea.
Malaya urged Beijing to maintain the status quo in the West Philippine Sea, Manila's term for areas in the South China Sea that are within the nation's exclusive economic zone. "We also ask them to stop all provocative activities in the West Philippine Sea," he said.
