A Chinese interpreter, center, sat with the Chinese couple detained in the shooting in Cebu: Li Qinglong, right, and his wife, Gou Jing
Two Chinese diplomats were killed Wednesday, and a third was wounded, in a shooting at a restaurant in the central Philippine city of Cebu, the authorities in Manila said.
The diplomats were having a birthday lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant around 1:20 p.m. when a man, a citizen of China and a guest at the celebration, opened fire, the police said.
The
two diplomats who were killed were aides to Song Ronghua, 53, the
Chinese consul general in Cebu, who was wounded in the attack. Mr. Song
was taken to a nearby hospital, where he remained Wednesday evening, in
stable condition.
The
victims were identified by the police as Shen Sun, 59, the deputy
consul general, and Li Hui, who served as a finance officer at the
consulate.
The
assailant, who was identified by the police as Li Qinglong, was
arrested. The police had also detained his wife, Gou Jing, a Chinese
national, in connection with the shooting.
Initially,
the police said the suspect was a woman married to a consular official.
But late Wednesday, after reviewing security-camera footage of the
shooting, the police determined it was Mr. Li who had fired the weapon,
said Rey Lyndon Lawas, a police spokesman.
“The
gunman just stood up and shot the two people to his right, and then he
shot the person right across from him,” Mr. Lawas said. The police
recovered a .45-caliber pistol from the restaurant.
Mr.
Lawas said the police were still investigating the motive for the
shooting. Officials from the Chinese Embassy in Manila were scheduled to
arrive late Wednesday to help interpret, he said.
Mr.
Song, 53, a career diplomat, recently took office as the consul general
in Cebu, where he was on the front lines of China’s efforts to improve
relations with the Philippines.
The two countries have sparred over territorial claims in the South
China Sea. At a conference last month, Mr. Song said China and the
Philippines had “no excuses to quarrel,” according to local reports.
Calls
to the office of the Chinese Consulate General in Cebu and the Chinese
Embassy in Manila were not returned, and officials in Beijing did not
respond to a request for comment.
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