Beijing Brands Philippine President ‘Amateurish’ and ‘Ignorant’

Beijing is not happy with the comparison between the Middle Kingdom and the Third Reich made by Philippine President Benigno Aquino.

During an interview with the New York Times earlier this week, Aquino said China’s claims in the South China resembled Nazi Germany’s demands for Czech territory in the 1930s.

“Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III, who has taken an inflammatory approach … has never been a great candidate for a wise statesman in the region,” read a rebuff published by the state-run Xinhua news agency. The article added that Aquino was an “amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality.”

Aquino’s statement and Beijing’s rebuttal come as hostilities over multiple overlapping sovereignty claims in the South China Sea continue to intensify with diplomatic tit for tats.

According to Aquino’s spokesperson, the President was simply being a “storyteller” and citing “facts.”

[South China Morning Post]