EDITORIAL - Ill-timed, ill-thought

After just a short run, the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) decided to no longer air the Mandarin-language newscast they earlier promoted after backlash from critics.

While ANC initially defended its scheduled broadcast of news in Mandarin, it has decided to discontinue them and end its partnership with Chinatown News TV in this regard.

The timing of the decision to air a regular Mandarin newscast could not have been more terrible. We are not exactly chummy with China right now, even as they give us vaccines against COVID-19.

Their repeated and brazen incursions into our territory is heightening the tension in the region. The likelihood of armed conflict, even though remote, is always there, always a possibility.

There are those who cannot help but look at the move to air news in Chinese as a way to promote China’s interests and spread the influence of Beijing, especially with regards to their economic as well as physical expansion in the region.

Some on the far end of the conspiracy theory scale are even saying it is actually a veiled move to get us used to Chinese culture in preparation to slowly brainwashing us, to get us ready and compliant to takeover by China. While this is highly unlikely, laughable even, a far-fetched theory like this will still find fertile ground in the same situation tense situation we now find ourselves in, still thanks to China.

To be fair, it should be mentioned that observers reported nothing political in the few broadcasts that aired. But still, the timing of the move, and the allotment of a news slot to reports in a language that represents a country that continually bullies us and tramples on our sovereignty, left many with a bad taste in the mouth.

By all means we should make our Chinese community here welcome, they have been part of our culture for centuries, but there are other ways to do this without making it look like we are letting unwanted foreign influences into our daily lives.