Study-abroad alert issued for Philippines

China issued a study-abroad alert on Friday for students going to the Philippines, which the Foreign Ministry said is a legitimate measure taken by Beijing to protect the safety, rights and interests of Chinese students residing overseas.

Over the past few months, there have been rising safety risks in the Philippines, with an increase in crimes, stop-and-search and harassment targeting Chinese nationals, ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at Friday's daily news briefing.

"We once again remind those planning to study in the Philippines to carefully assess the risks, and we meanwhile urge the Philippine side to take concrete actions to ensure the safety, dignity and lawful rights of Chinese students in the country," Lin said.

The alert, issued by the Ministry of Education on Friday, is the second of its kind this year. In April, it issued an alert for Chinese students studying in Ohio in the United States after it passed negative provisions regarding China in a higher education bill. Previous alerts before that date back to 2020 and 2021 regarding Australia.

In a meeting with Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin earlier this month, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian expressed concern over selective and discriminatory law enforcement practices that target Chinese enterprises and citizens in the Philippines, as well as the safety of Chinese personnel and institutions in the Southeast Asian country.

In April, the Chinese embassy in the Philippines held a lecture on anti-kidnapping strategies for expatriates, with the aim of assisting Chinese nationals in the Philippines to improve their safety awareness skills.