Last Tuesday, Secretary Tess Lazaro and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke by phone. Our DFA called the conversation frank, pragmatic and constructive. Both sides agreed to keep talking, manage differences and avoid actions and rhetoric that could raise tensions before the Asean summit. That sounds good. Nobody in the Philippine government is against keeping an open line of communication with China. But I read the other side’s version, too, and I suggest every Filipino do the same. In Xinhua’s account, Wang told Lazaro that relations are suffering from malicious interference by a small number of Filipino politicians who keep attacking […]...

Keep on reading: Why Beijing wants us to go quiet