China: We have no interest in interfering in PH elections

China has denied the report of Manila’s National Security Council (NSC) that Beijing is interfering with the Philippines' midterm elections.

In a press conference on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said “China follows the principle of non-interference in other countries’ domestic affairs.”

“We have no interest in interfering in Philippine elections.”

At a Senate inquiry on China's submersible drones and alleged espionage activities in the Philippines, NSC spokesperson Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya answered in the affirmative when asked if the alleged Chinese operations were supporting certain candidates.

"There are indications that information operations are being conducted... are Chinese state-sponsored in the Philippines and are actually interfering in the forthcoming elections,” Malaya said.

When asked if the alleged operations were propping up candidates China wanted to win while undermining those whom it wanted to lose, Malaya responded, "Yes, there are indications of that.”

Malaya in an ambush interview confirmed that the NSC has identified the candidates backed by China.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has been informed by the intelligence community of the alleged foreign interference.

“Mayroon tayong natanggap na intelligence information coming from different agencies na kasama natin. Kahit 'yung nakikita sa social media na tumutuligsa sa Comelec o sa proseso, naka-automatic bot po yun. Ito ay nanggaling sa ibang bansa at hindi sa atin bansa. Pero may mga ginagamit dito upang masigurado na kung ano ima-magnify o palalakihin na isyu, 'yun ang makikita ng sambayanan,” Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia said.

(We received information from different agencies saying that even the repeated comments about Comelec on social media were part of it. They were automatic bots coming from another country.)

Garcia still guaranteed that the upcoming elections would be fair and honest.—AOL, GMA Integrated News

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