SUMMARY
Extracting quick and timely on-the-record answers from most diplomats is an exercise in hope. Answers, should they come, are seldom quick and rarely timely. But you try anyway.
However, hoping for quick, timely, and responsive answers from the Chinese embassy in Manila when diplomatic ties are at a considerable low is an exercise in patience. Sometimes you ask, and the answers, if they do come, come a week or weeks later. Sometimes you ask, and get a canned response that neither answers your question or gets to the point.
Hello, my name is Bea Cupin and, since late last year, I’ve had the privilege of covering defense and diplomacy for Rappler.
This week, I’ve been assigned the task of explaining how we wade through the murky waters of reporting on the latest claim of the …