Hatred toward Filipinos ‘smacks of racism’ — HK daily

A newspaper in Hong Kong on Wednesday sought to ease the reported resentment felt by Chinese nationals toward Filipinos in light of the hostage crisis in Manila that left eight tourists from China’s special administrative region dead.

In its editorial Wednesday, the South China Morning Post said Filipinos are the “wrong targets" of the collective anger although it described the police force that handled Monday’s hostage situation as “incompetent."

“The actions of a unit of police commandos were not [the Filipinos’] doing. Tarring them with the same brush of incompetence isn’t right," the editorial read, adding that venting anger toward Filipinos “smacks of racism."

The editorial also scored the Hong Kong government’s response to the tragedy after placing the Philippines on its travel blacklist.