#CHexit Hashtag (Photo : Facebook/Definitely Filipino)
#Brexit was one of the most heavily used hashtags the past two weeks since the UK opted to leave the European Union. On Wednesday, a new hashtag was born referring to the U.N. Permanent Court of Arbitration’s verdict on the South China Sea dispute which favored the Philippines over China.
With the tribunal finding China guilty of violating the Philippine sovereign rights in certain areas that the court said belong to the country’s exclusive economic zone, Filipinos found a new word to express their joy in winning the arbitration case. Their use of the hashtag #CHexit in their social media posts or to accompany memes is part of the country’s love for mixing language numbers and sense of humor to come up with new words.
Forbes cites the Filipino use of “DU30” to refer to their new president, Rodrigo Duterto, as another example. It is a spoof on Brexit, now a social media battlecry for the Asian bully to leave its territory.
Besides appending the hashtag, said to be rising as a top tending topic on the Philippines on Twitter, Filipinos who were at a pre-victory party at a restaurant in Manila were chanting “Chexit” as they released red, white and blue balloons ahead of the Tuesday release of the U.N. PCA verdict.
However, no amount of social media pressure – or even international pressure – would make Beijing budge from its belief that the disputed islands is theirs, even if the tribunal noted the lack of evidence that China had exclusive control over the isles which fishermen from various Asian nations also used.
Following the tribunal’s decision, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin released on Wednesday a white paper which reiterated China’s historical and legal claims to the islands. Besides stressing that China does not recognize the court’s verdict, the minister also placed a question on the credibility of the judges whom Liu pointed out live in Europe and “out of touch with the issues.”
“These judges are paid, so who’s really behind this tribunal,” Liu asked at a press conference, quoted ABC. “Who was paying them? Was it the Philippines or some other country?” he further queried.
Liu specifically accused Shunji Yanai, the PCA judge who picked the five arbitrators, of manipulating the tribunal. The minister said Shunji is from Japan, the traditional rival of China. He threatened Beijing would declare an air defense identification zone over the waters if China is threatened.
