Chinese Embassy denies links to detained Mongolian jet fighter pilot

BEIJING on Sunday denied having affiliations with a detained Mongolian national, allegedly trained as a jet fighter pilot under the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the Chinese Embassy in Manila said.

“To the best of our knowledge, this individual has no affiliation with China,” Deputy Spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy Guo Wei said in a statement.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) last week said that a Mongolian national was arrested in Zambales for alleged espionage activities. The agency added that he held a jet fighter license from the PLA Air Force Aviation University, which he did not disclose when he enrolled as a pilot student.

“Prejudging the matter before the facts are fully ascertained is fundamentally flawed and runs counter to basic principles of objectivity,” Mr. Guo added.

The BI said that they had flagged the Mongolian nation for conducting aerial photography of the Iba Airport and its neighboring Palauig River during flight exercises.

Zambales province’s western coastline faces the South China Sea, vital to the Philippines’ effort to counter China’s expansive claim of the waterway. — Adrian H. Halili