Thursday, September 27, 2007
Senator apologizes for saying China ‘invented corruption’ (3:39 p.m.)
MANILA -- A senator apologized Thursday for saying China "invented corruption" during a heated hearing into an allegedly overpriced broadband deal Manila signed with a Chinese company.
"I will write a formal letter of apology to the Chinese ambassador," Senator Miriam Santiago, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.
Santiago, famous for her mercurial temper, publicly berated China in a nationally televised hearing Wednesday into a US$330 million (euro235 million) broadband network contract that was awarded to China's Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment (ZTE) Corp. amid allegations of bribery and overpricing.
A Cabinet official and a Filipino businessman who lost the bid testified that they were offered bribes by the Philippine elections chief to clear the Chinese company for the contract, which has since been suspended.
The elections commissioner, Benjamin Abalos, denied the allegations but admitted that ZTE officials were his "golfing buddies" and had paid for his trips to China.
"China invented civilization in the East, but as well it invented corruption for all of human civilization," Santiago said Wednesday. She also admonished witnesses at the hearing for "just fighting over your kickbacks."
Santiago said she was not a racist and did not mean to insult the Chinese. Her husband has Chinese ancestry, she added.
"The point I was making was that if a Chinese contract is pending with our government, any trip by a public official to China or any socializing with the Chinese involved becomes suspicious," she said.
Santiago is a close ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who witnessed the signing of the broadband deal during a visit to Beijing in April.
Arroyo has hailed deepening ties between the Philippines and China, and is scheduled to visit Beijing again next month. (AP)> |
