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Senator wants review of 'One China' policy

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ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Senate PRIB" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/07/17/07172023-senate-deputy-minority-leader-risa-hontiveros.jpg"/><figcaption>Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros on June 21, 2023. <em>Joseph B. Vidal/Senate PRIB</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — Sen. Risa Hontiveros of the Senate minority on Wednesday urged the Marcos administration to review the so-called &quot;One China&quot; policy after Beijing told Manila &quot;not to play with fire on the Taiwan issue.&quot;</p><p>The &quot;One China&quot; policy means there is only one state under China, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to seize it one day, by force if necessary.</p><p>The Philippines does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan.</p><p>In a social media post, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. congratulated Taiwanese president-elect Lai Ching-te on his election and said he looked forward to &quot;close collaboration&quot; with him.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/01/14/24/taiwan-tells-china-to-face-reality-after-election">Taiwan tells China to &#x27;face reality&#x27; after election</a></li></ul><p>Beijing said it has summoned Philippine Ambassador Jaime FlorCruz over Marcos&#x27; congratulatory message and has publicly chided the President over it.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2932521" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>But for Hontiveros, Beijing &quot;has no business telling Filipinos what to say or not.&quot;</p><p>&quot;As I’ve called for before, we must review this so-called One China Policy. China has done far worse things in our territories compared to a congratulatory message to Taiwan,&quot; she said in a statement.</p><p>China is a major trading partner of the Philippines and a regional power in Asia.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/12/31/23/chinas-xi-hails-resilient-economy-in-bullish-new-year-speech">China&#x27;s Xi hails &#x27;resilient&#x27; economy in bullish New Year speech</a></li></ul><div><strong>MATCH ACTIONS WITH PRONOUNCEMENTS</strong></div><p>Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel meanwhile urged Philippine officials to &quot;match official actions with official pronouncements,&quot; as he stressed the need to observe the &quot;One China&quot; policy.</p><p>&quot;Kung may &#x27;One China&#x27; policy tayo, we should be sensitive about the point of view or belief of that China that we are recognizing,&quot; Pimentel said.</p><p>&quot;If the feeling of that China which we are recognizing is that (Taiwan) is a renegade province, and then nagkaroon ng election sa renegade province nila, do we go out of our way to greet the winner in the election of that renegade province? We could have refrained from doing so,” he also told reporters in a phone interview.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/16/24/ph-reaffirms-one-china-policy-after-marcos-congratulates-taiwans-lai">Philippines reaffirms &#x27;One China policy&#x27; after President Marcos congratulates Taiwan&#x27;s Lai</a></li></ul><p>Pimentel was president of then administration party PDP-Laban when it entered a cooperation agreement with the Communist Party of China in 2017 and sought closer ties with it.</p><p>&quot;The danger is upsetting the other party which we have bilateral relations, which you have led to believe that you are adhering to a &#x27;One China&#x27; policy. That is the danger,&quot; he said Wednesday.</p><p>Pimentel said he respects Marcos&#x27; prerogative as chief architect of foreign policy, but stressed the importance of maintaining the policy.</p><p>&quot;Ang kilos natin affects some other nation so merong mau-upset so i-anticipate na lang &#x27;yan. Isama na lang yan sa lahat sa calculations natin,&quot; he said.</p><div><strong>—with a report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News, and Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

Sen. Risa Hontiveros: 'China has done far worse things in our territories compared to a congratulatory message to Taiwan.'