“I wonder if he is a real student”… Request for an investigation by the National Assembly
“Receive a visa and get approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs… Do not get involved in disputes.”
[앵커]
Thousands of Chinese students recently enrolled at a university in the Philippines, sparking a debate over whether they were ‘spies’. The reason why Chinese students flock to universities located near areas where China and the Philippines have a territorial dispute is because there is a different intention.
This is reporter Lee Do-seong in Beijing.
[기자]
The Philippine government recently launched a survey targeting Chinese students.
This is because about 4,600 Chinese students are enrolled in a private university in Cagayan Province, Luzon Island.
Cagayan Province is the northernmost part of the Philippines and is home to two US military bases.
Tensions between China and the Philippines are growing over the South China Sea, and young Chinese are flocking to the center of the situation, casting a suspicious eye.
[프란셀 마가레스 파디야/필리핀군 대변인 : 학생이라고 주장하고 있는데, 그럼 학생 비자가 있어야 하지 않겠습니까? 그래서 저희는 이민국, 외무성, 고등교육위원회와 협력하고 있습니다.]
A security expert in the Philippines said, “It is doubtful that a significant number of students pay large sums of money to enter a certain field,” adding, “They may not actually get a degree.”
Some House members also called for a congressional investigation.
However, Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba denied these claims.
They say they are students with official student visas and approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so there is no reason to involve them in the South China Sea dispute.
Governor Mamba is known to be pro-China.
As the conflict between the two countries over the South China Sea intensifies, including the controversy over the fact that about 30 Chinese people served as auxiliary agents in the Philippine Coast Guard last month, there is suspicion of Chinese people in Islands the Philippines also deepens.
[화면출처 UNTV·ANC 24/7]
[영상디자인 홍빛누리]
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