Just a few days ago, the Philippinese government detained over 1000 Chinese immigrants for their participation in illegal gambling activities and now the time came where the Chinese government reacted on this incidents. As it seems the tension in the international relations between the two countries is growing again. It should be noted though that none of the Chinese immigrants has been charged with offenses about gambling, but on the other hand are still detained because of they overstaying after their tourist visas expired.
What's Next for the Detainees?
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang asked the Philippine government to solve the problem the soonest the possible and to release the people who have the proper identification documents with an immediate effect. Furthermore, mister Shuang stated “At the same time, China expresses concern over the large number of Chinese citizens detained by the Philippines”. As it seems now, the Philippinese president Duterte, has two options in his hands. The first one is to be extra careful and do whatever he can to improve his country’s relations with China and the second one will be to continue his efforts to shut down the local online gambling industry in Philippines.