China Sanctions Former Philippine Senator For South China Sea Advocacy
In a statement yesterday, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry said that the government had imposed the sanctions on Francis 'Tol' N. Tolentino, a close ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., 'for his egregious conduct on China-related issues.'
The spokesperson said that he was among a 'handful of anti-China politicians' who have made 'malicious remarks and moves' that have hurt ties between Beijing and Manila. 'The Chinese government is firmly resolved to defend national sovereignty, security and development interests,' the spokesperson added. The sanctions prohibit Tolentino from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
'There must be a price to pay for harming China's interests,' Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular press briefing later yesterday, Reuters reported.
The announcement came a day after Tolentino wound up his six-year term in the Senate, where he had served as majority leader. There he was active on issues related to the South China Sea, where tensions have increased steadily since Marcos took office in mid-2022, culminating in a series of dangerous confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels last year.
Tolentino headed the Senate's Special Committee on Philippine Maritime and Admiralty Zones and played a key role in the drafting of two important pieces of legislation – the Maritime Zones Law and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Law – that President Marcos signed into law in November.
The Maritime Zones Act sets the limits of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, while the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act establishes a system through which foreign vessels and aircraft can exercise the right of passage through Philippine waters. The two laws sought to operationalize the 2016 ruling, handed down by an arbitral tribunal constituted under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), that supported most of the Philippines' maritime claims and ruled that China's expansive claims to most of the waterway had no standing under UNCLOS.
Beijing rejected the ruling, and subsequently lodged a 'stern protest' at the passage of the laws, describing them as an attempt to 'solidify the illegal ruling of the South China Sea arbitration case through domestic legislation.'
Tolentino also led a Senate investigation into alleged Chinese espionage activities in the Philippines. In April, he accused the Chinese embassy in Manila of orchestrating a disinformation campaign by hiring 'trolls' 'to spread disinformation, attack Philippine government officials, and promote pro-China narratives under fake social media profiles,' according to the Philippine News Agency.
Tolentino sought re-election to the Senate in the 2025 midterm elections as part of Marcos' slate of candidates, seeking to leverage his credentials as a candidate who had stood against Chinese actions in the South China Sea. But he failed to win re-election, placing 25th out of 66 candidates vying for the 12 vacant Senate seats.
In a statement yesterday, Tolentino described the sanctions as a 'badge of honor' and 'a testament to my unwavering commitment to protect our national interest and our people's dignity.'
'I have fought – and will continue to fight – for what rightfully belongs to our nation. I stand firmly with the Philippine Navy, the Philippine Coast Guard, and our brave fishermen who depend on these waters for their livelihood,' he said. 'No foreign power can silence me or weaken my resolve to uphold our sovereignty.'
This appears to be the first instance in which Beijing has imposed a travel ban on an individual Philippine official for their maritime advocacy – and may represent a new means of expressing its opposition to the Marcos administration's defiant South China Sea policy. It certainly does little to push the two countries toward a resolution, as the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement late yesterday.
'While these measures are legally within China's prerogative, they are not conducive to mutual efforts to restore mutual trust and improve bilateral relations,' it said.
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