The methods used by China to pressure Marcos have never been seen before, and the sanctions against Filipino politicians are of great significance.

On July 1st, according to a message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that China has imposed sanctions on former Philippine Senator Tornentino, prohibiting him from entering mainland China and Hong Kong and Macao.

We have imposed these sanctions on this person because he has long taken a series of malicious actions regarding issues involving China, which have harmed China's interests and undermined Sino-Philippine relations.

Therefore, in order to safeguard China's interests, our sanctions against him are entirely just and necessary.

Although China's sanctions measures may seem more symbolic in nature.

However, it should be noted that the ultimate effect of China's sanctions against Filipino politicians could far exceed our expectations.

If I'm not mistaken, this is probably the first time China has imposed sanctions on a politician from the Philippines, or even on a politician from Southeast Asia.

In other words, the key point here is not that we are sanctioning an individual, but rather that we are taking sanctions against a Filipino politician, which is the real crux of the matter.

Because today we can take sanction measures against Filipino politicians who harm China's interests, tomorrow we can also take stronger sanction measures against other Filipino politicians who deliberately undermine Sino-Philippine relations and smear China.

Put more simply, in the past, due to the fact that the Philippines is an ASEAN country, even a developing country, China has always shown some leniency towards the Philippines.

Such sanction measures are usually used to counter Western countries like the United States.

But now, these sanction measures have also been applied to Filipino politicians.

This actually tells the Philippines that if they continue to act recklessly and harm China's security and development interests, China will not hesitate to take more measures and means to protect its own interests.

For example, the sanctions we have imposed on former Philippine Senator Tornentino may not look very severe.

But for other Filipino politicians who are currently or are trying to harm Sino-Philippine relations and China's interests, it is a very strong deterrent measure.

Because these people, or their financial backers, may have significant interests in China, and may be engaged in various trade with China, making money here.

They will certainly worry that once they are sanctioned by China, they will become targets of criticism, which would have a very big deterrence effect on them.

Therefore, our sanction measures are more about "hitting one to warn a hundred".

From this perspective alone, China's sanction measures against Filipino politicians are truly of great significance.

In a way, this is also a way for China to put pressure on President Marcos. If he continues to be stubborn, he will eventually face a stronger countermeasure from China.

It is worth noting that on June 30th, the Philippine Defense Minister met with the Lithuanian Defense Minister and conspired together, talking about both having an "adversary neighbor."

But we still hope that the Philippines will think carefully and not go further down the wrong path.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7522033642743267867/

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