MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Wednesday said it will respect the authority of Taiwan over Filipina caregiver Elanel Egot Ordidor whom the Philippine government had requested to be deported over her critical remarks online against President Rodrigo Duterte.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said this after Taiwan rejected the move of the Philippines to have Ordidor deported for her “nasty” comments on social media against the Duterte administration.

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Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the rights and interests of its foreign workers are protected by the country’s laws and regulations.

“We leave that wholly to the jurisdiction of Taiwan and China. Taiwan is part of China. We respect that decisions and of course in the same way that we will enforce our laws in all foreigners while they are in our jurisdiction,” Roque said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.

The Philippines honors the so-called “One China policy”, which declares Taiwan as among China’s territory under the 1975 Joint Communique between the Chinese and Philippine governments.

Manila has conflicting maritime claims with Beijing in the West Philippine Sea, where the Asian giant had transformed reefs and islands into military outposts to assert ownership of the disputed waters despite a 2016 arbitral decision invalidating its claim that was based on its mythical nine-dash line.

There have been several well-publicized reports of China’s coercive actions against Philippine fishermen, coast guard and navy over the years. However, Duterte has chosen to shelve the PCA ruling in exchange for Chinese economic perks to help fund his administration’s infrastructure projects.

/MUF

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