Malacañang rejects China criticism

Malacañang on Friday pushed back against Beijing’s claims that Manila was “politicizing” a collision between Filipino and Chinese fishing vessels in disputed waters, saying the issue at hand was irresponsibility of the Chinese boat’s crew.

Philippine officials have condemned the unidentified Chinese vessel for abandoning 22 Filipino fishermen after their boat sank. China’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the collision was “an ordinary maritime accident” and added that it was irresponsible of the Philippines to “politicize the incident without verification.”