Officials’ faux pas happened at ceremony to receive weapons from Beijing
The Philippines apologised to China on Monday for a “grievous but purely unintentional” mistake after it used a Taiwanese logo at a ceremony to receive arms and ammunition from Beijing.
The diplomatic faux pas went largely unnoticed until photos of the event started circulating on social media.
A banner used in the ceremony, attended by China’s ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua, said the arms had been provided by the Ministry of National Defence in Beijing.
But the logo used alongside that of the Philippine defence department was that of its Taiwanese equivalent.
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The government in Beijing regards Taiwan as an integral part of its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the self-ruled island back under its control.
Manila’s Department of National Defence (DND) assured China that it still adheres to the “One China Policy”.
“We have issued an official apology to the government and the people of the People’s Republic of China,” the DND said in a statement.
“It is our sincere hope that this very unfortunate incident will not affect the cooperative and friendly relations between our two countries, which have grown warmer over the past year,” it said.
