Like a broken record, Jay Tarriela has always characterized China's action in the South China Sea as coercive, aggressive, illegal, bullying, etc.
For several years now, this PCG commodore has gone overboard and scaled up the functions of his position as spokesman---not of the Philippine Coast Guard but of the agency's task force dealing particularly with the relatively confined area of waters in the vast expanse of the South China Sea---and in the process arrogating for himself the official work and responsibility of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Also for years now, Tarriela's broadsides against Chinese authorities and his unbridled touting of lies and disinformation about the 2017 ruling of the Court of Arbitration were not met with counter-arguments by the usually diplomatic officials of China based in the country.
But this has ended with the rise of Mr. Guo Wei, deputy spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Manila. This diplomat knows his job and dutifully fulfills it.
Guo's tussle with Tarriela started when the PCG official disputed what really happened during the Chinese Navy's rescue of a Filipino fisherman in Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal and Minzhu Jiao. While the Chinese embassy released a plain news announcement, Tarriela had the temerity to put a propaganda spin on it.
Tarriela's confirmation bias on this issue and all other incidents in the SCS is obvious, and while the embassy had been quiet in the past, Guo Wei now is ready with answers.
Guo made it clear that the Chinese side does not initiate accusations against any individual or institution without justification. They also do not go looking for confrontation.
He stressed: "But when China is smeared, vilified, or attacked with baseless claims, the embassy has a fundamental responsibility to do its job: defend China's sovereignty, interests, and dignity."
Guo this is the rationale for the embassy's task for making the facts clear, and telling the truth to the Philippine public.
"We welcome any constructive discussion grounded in facts, but we categorically reject any unreasonable attacks or smears against China," he said.
What contributes to the obfuscation of issues is the fact that every time Tarriela airs his vitriolic against China, scores of paid trolls in social media respond with their own anti-China attacks.
These trolls even put in the Duterte factor in the otherwise academic discussion about the South China Sea, or to use their favorite term, the West Philippine Sea, which is not even recognized in official maps of the world, particularly the International Hydrographic Organization. The IHO is the official United Nations body that names the world's seas.
Pro-BBM netizens and trolls should confine their arguments on the SCS and not involve any DDS or Duterte item, lest they reveal their political affiliation as paid (underpaid?) hacks.
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