{"id":113599,"date":"2019-08-30T06:37:46","date_gmt":"2019-08-30T13:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=113599"},"modified":"2019-08-30T13:39:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T20:39:57","slug":"duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte Meets Xi, Discusses China Call For Banning Philippine Online Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent diplomatic spat over online gambling was on the agenda when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"Philippine
Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) meets Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, and it seems Xi had an important message about online gambling. (Image: Thomas Peter\/Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While a long-running dispute over territories in the South China Sea took precedence, a presidential spokesman confirmed the pair had touched on the Philippines offshore online gambling industry (POGOs), which target mainland Chinese in defiance of Beijing.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Chinese Embassy in Manila took the unprecedented move of calling on Philippine authorities to \u201ctake concrete and effective measures to prevent and punish\u201d POGOs that target players in China and illegally employ Chinese citizens.<\/p>\n

Worst-Kept Secret<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The POGOs have become a cash cow for the Philippine government since they were licensed and regulated in 2016. The companies, predominantly owned by Chinese nationals and largely employing Mandarin speakers, (sometimes illegally employing them), are not permitted to target Filipinos or the citizens of any country where gambling is illegal online, including China.<\/p>\n

Despite recent denials<\/a> by the Philippine regulator PAGCOR, the Chinese contend the vast majority of their business comes from players in mainland China.<\/p>\n

\n

At a media briefing on Friday, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the Chinese president had praised the Philippines\u2019 recent decision to suspend<\/a> the issuing of new licenses, but added the caveat that \u201c[Xi] will appreciate more if POGO will be eliminated or stopped.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Panelo said Duterte did not have the chance to respond. But the president would \u201cprobably\u201d be prepared to at least study the economic implications of a total ban on online gambling.<\/p>\n

Others were taking a more defiant stance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Duterte] will say it\u2019s legal in the Philippines,\u201d\u00a0Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana said in a televised briefing from Beijing, as reported by The Philippine Enquirer. \u201cThey can\u2019t dictate on us. That\u2019s our sovereign decision. That is where we stand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smokescreen for Espionage?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, The Asia Times<\/em> reports that, among some Philippine politicians, a completely different narrative is emerging. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and others have suggested the POGOs could be a front for Chinese espionage activities, and Beijing\u2019s recent protests a smokescreen tactic to put Philippine authorities off the scent.<\/p>\n

The theory emerged after a series of aerial photographs were posted in online defense forums, which showed that many of the POGOs are clustered around military bases in Manila.<\/p>\n

Around 130,000 Chinese have come to work for the POGOs, and many are based around Philippine Air Force and Navy headquarters, Philippine National Police headquarters, and even Camp Aguinaldo, the offices of the Philippine Army and the National Defense Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you already see many people [at the POGOs] who are always there\u2026it\u2019s very easy for all these [Chinese] people to perhaps shift their activities to spying. They are near [military facilities],\u201d said Lorenzana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent diplomatic spat over online gambling was on the agenda when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday. While a long-running dispute over territories in the South China Sea took precedence, a presidential spokesman confirmed the pair had touched on the Philippines offshore online gambling industry (POGOs), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":113600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDuterte Meets Xi, Discusses China Call For Banning Philippine Gambling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Philippine online gambling was discussed when President Rodrigo Duterte met President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday, according to presidential aide.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Duterte Meets Xi, Discusses China Call For Banning Philippine Gambling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Philippine online gambling was discussed when President Rodrigo Duterte met President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday, according to presidential aide.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-30T13:37:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-30T20:39:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/XI-DUTERTE.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/\",\"name\":\"Duterte Meets Xi, Discusses China Call For Banning Philippine Gambling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/XI-DUTERTE.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-30T13:37:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-30T20:39:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Philippine online gambling was discussed when President Rodrigo Duterte met President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday, according to presidential aide.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/duterte-meets-xi-discusses-china-call-for-banning-philippine-online-gambling\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/XI-DUTERTE.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/XI-DUTERTE.jpeg\",\"width\":3000,\"height\":2000,\"caption\":\"Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) meets Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte in Beijing on Thursday, and it seems Xi had an important message about online gambling. 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