Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano said there is no concrete case of Chinese espionage in the country.

“We do not yet have concrete case of espionage here,” Ano told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo on Thursday.

“We have intelligence units in charge of counter-intelligence. They conduct counter-intelligence purposes and security purposes. They have projects but for this, influx, we have not seen…,” he said.

“It’s not fair for us to immediately make a conclusion that they are here as spy and to prefer for any invasion, that is very speculative,” he added.

However, Ano said security forces should always be on guard.

“We should always be on guard because national security is our priority but we should be also basing our speculations or our observation into concrete evidence. It’s difficult to make speculation and then it affects a lot of things,” he said.

Ano said the influx of Chinese in the country is caused by restrictions in their country.

“In China there are so many rich Chinese already but they are not allowed to buy land, they can only buy condo… but they cannot buy properties because it’s still a communist country.

“They have... money. They go to other countries where you can buy properties and invest your money and they see that improving relationship between Philippine and China. So aside from other countries a lot of them go here,” he stated.

“There are so many rich Chinese now and if they cannot spend their money in China for some personal recreation because of restriction they will find other countries,” he added. Robina Asido/DMS