‘China’s leaders not likened to Hitler’

I am Christian O. Vicedo, a political scientist from the University of Santo Tomas. I am writing with reference to your Feb. 6 front-page story titled, “P-Noy: China’s rulers like Hitler.” First, I would like to appreciate your balanced reporting with respect to the South China Sea dispute. I thank you for the up-to-date information you featured in the aforementioned article. Indeed, it is important to present the reactions of the Chinese government and Chinese media to the official statements of our government. This can enable the Filipino public to effectively assess the soundness of our government’s foreign policy direction and the effectiveness of Philippine diplomacy.

However, I would like to express a word of caution with respect to the manner by which you present these types of news since they present domestic and international implications. Indeed, P-Noy used the pre-World War II context to elucidate the importance of the international community’s support in promoting security, peace and stability in the region. However, your news article did not present any citation of

P-Noy’s exact statements wherein he directly compared the rulers of China to Nazi Germany’s Hitler. As such the title of the article is highly inappropriate. As far as an educated reader is concerned, the reference was limited to the political dynamics of a prewar context and it does not involve the quality or political disposition of the concerned leaders. However, in the title of your newspaper article, it appears as if P-Noy deliberately compared Xi Jinping and the Chinese communist government to Hitler and the Nazi Party to ascribe a negative image to the Chinese leaders. Since you have not confirmed the intentions of P-Noy in his statements, it is important not to package his statements in a form that directly antagonizes China.

Further, I would like to remind you that news from Filipino media companies are being monitored by the Chinese government and Chinese media and as such, this form of news presentation can have a negative impact on our efforts to resolve the South China Sea dispute.

I am looking forward to your response. I hope you would interpret this constructive criticism in a positive way. Thank you very much Inquirer.

—CHRISTIAN VICEDO,

vicedo.christian@gmail.com