The Philippines yesterday expressed deep concern over the reported sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel by China in the South China Sea late last week, saying Manila’s similar experience revealed the trust lost in a friendship. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the incident happened during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis that is “a crisis like no other in the past; not just in its potential calamitous scale, but in the hope to contain and stop it by unstinting cooperation and fullest trust among all countries.” “Our own similar experience revealed how much trust in a friendship is lost by it; and how much trust was created by Vietnam’s humanitarian act of directly saving the lives of our Filipino fishermen,” the DFA said in a statement.

Lee-Brago, P. (2020, April 9). Phl concerned over China’s sinking of Vietnamese vessel. The Philippine Star, p. 2.