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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Corruption probe could harm China-RP ties: Chinese official (7:43 p.m.)
MANILA -- A Senate investigation into an allegedly corruption-tainted government deal with a Chinese company could harm ties between the two countries, a Chinese official warned Wednesday.
The Senate has been investigating allegations that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband and a former elections chief benefited from huge kickbacks in the aborted US$330 million deal with China's ZTE Corp. to set up a nationwide broadband network.
Presidential spokesmen have dismissed the charges as hearsay and part of opposition "grandstanding." The president's husband and the former elections chief - who resigned last year after he was implicated - have both denied any wrongdoing. ZTE has denied bribing anyone in the deal.
After talks with Philippine Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, the vice minister of the international department of the Chinese Communist Party's central committee, Liu Hongcai, told reporters he hoped the issue "will not affect our bilateral ties" and that relations between the two countries would improve.
Puno later said the Chinese delegation expressed concern that the Senate probe might harm the "general relationship, cooperation and friendship" between China and the Philippines.
He said plans to summon Chinese nationals to Senate hearings "must be done with great care and diligence so its implications will not be misunderstood." (AP)
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