Beijing tells PH: Stop peddling so-called ‘Chinese spy’
The Chinese government on Wednesday took issue with a recent announcement by Philippine authorities about the arrest of a Chinese national suspected of working as a spy for Beijing.
“We hope the Philippines will stick to the facts, stop shadow-chasing, stop peddling the so-called ‘Chinese spy,’ and earnestly protect the lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals in the Philippines,” said Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
“The Chinese government, as always, asks Chinese nationals overseas to abide by local laws and regulations,” Mao said during the ministry’s regular press briefing in Beijing.
The statements referred to the arrest of Deng Yuanqing who, along with Filipinos Ronel Jojo Balundo Besa and Jayson Amado Fernandez, was presented in a press conference by the National Bureau of Investigation on Monday.
DFA to help in probe
The NBI said the three suspects engaged in espionage, surveillance and reconnaissance operations by visiting and mapping several police and military headquarters, national and local government buildings, and power installations in Luzon, including the Malampaya onshore gas plant in Batangas.
Deng was allegedly part of a six-member group posing as developers of autonomous vehicles. Officials then described him as a software engineer who graduated from the People’s Liberation Army University in Nanjing, and who had been in the country for five years serving as a “sleeper agent.”
On Thursday, a day after Mao’s remarks, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) expressed its readiness to help in the investigation.
“In accordance with its mandate to help protect national security, the Department takes any indication of espionage operations by foreign nationals seriously, and stands ready to support the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other relevant government agencies as they undertake their respective mandates in accordance with the law,” the DFA said in a statement.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) also disclosed new details about Deng: That the 39-year-old Chinese national has been married to a Filipino woman and that he has been traveling in and out of the country since 2015—or years earlier than the NBI’s reckoning.
The BI said it would start deportation proceedings against the Chinese suspect only when the cases against him had been resolved.
Deng, Besa and Fernandez have been charged with espionage and violation of the anti-cybercrime law, the NBI said.
