MANILA – Someone goofed big-time in the preparations for last week’s turnover by China of rifles and ammunition for the Philippine military, using the emblem of Taiwan’s defense ministry on a tarpaulin at the rites instead of Beijing’s Ministry of National Defense.
The faux pas prompted profuse verbal apologies from top officials of the Philippines Department of National Defense. An official DND statement acknowledged what it called “a grievous but purely unintentional mistake of using a wrong logo on a banner to represent the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China.”
While the official DND statement did not mention “Taiwan” by name, it was learned that the DND indeed referred to Taiwan defense ministry’s emblem, but had not called it by name in consideration of Beijing’s sensitivity to the matter. The PROC considers Taiwan a renegade province.
In its statement, the DND made it clear “that the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines strictly adhere to the One China Policy as espoused by the Philippine government.”
The DND said an official apology was sent to the government and people of PROC through China’s Ambassador to Manila Zhao Jianhua.
