Soft tofu and hard questions over Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s ties to China
- With the toss of a snack at a Manila police officer, a Chinese student has set off a public and political debate about the relationship between the two countries
A Chinese student who threw a cup of tofu at a railway police officer in Manila has triggered a national debate about the status of Chinese citizens in the Philippines, with the dispute embroiling the elite of Philippine politics.
Zhang Jiale, 23, threw her soft tofu snack called taho at officer William Cristobal at a Metro Rail Transit station on Saturday morning when he asked her to finish it before going through a gate to the platform, the Philippine Department of Transportation said.
The MRT recently banned liquids as part of tighter security measures in response to a bomb threat.
Zhang, a first-year student at the SoFA Design Institute in Makati City, Metro Manila, was charged with disobeying authority, direct assault and “unjust vexation”, The Philippine Star reported.
Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde had ordered National Capital Region Police Office chief Director Guillermo Eleazar to take the necessary steps to deport Zhang, the report said.
