CHINA and the Philippines’ territorial dispute should not deter nor affect economic, cultural, educational, and other exchanges between the two nations.

This was stated by Senator Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero amid a controversy about the alleged increase in the Chinese student population in Cagayan’s colleges and universities.

Escudero is also reacting to Teresita Ang-See’s statement lambasting what she called baseless whodunnits of student spies in the province.

Earlier, Ang-See said allegations regarding Chinese student spies in Cagayan reeks of sinophobia and racism.

The civil servant further added that neighboring countries take extra measures to entice Chinese tourists and students, but the Philippines, on the other hand, discourages them from coming by exhibiting blatant racism and racial profiling.

For his side, Escudero expressed understanding with Ang-See’s statement.

“The political differences and or wranglings between states and governments should not affect the individual nationals of both countries absent clear and convincing evidence that the national’s actions are government-driven or dictated,” Escudero said.

“As I have said many times over, the territorial dispute between China, the Philippines, and other ASEAN countries should not deter nor affect economic, cultural, educational, and other forms of exchanges and we should emphasize the things that we agree on instead of those we disagree on much less disagreeing on something that, on its face, is not even disagreeable per se,” he added.

He added that attracting what he dubbed as foreign student dollars serves the Philippine economy very well.

He said this is better than sending our teachers abroad to teach away from their families and spending teacher dollars in a foreign country.