【英语中国】内地网民批评菲律宾处理劫持案不力

Mainland Chinese watched with disbelief and anger the news that an ex-policeman in the Philippines took a bus of Hong Kong tourists hostage and killed some of them.

The 11-hour standoff, which left eight tourists and the policeman dead, was followed closely in China. Several television stations interrupted regular evening programs and live broadcast the last hours of the crisis.

And once again, the Internet served as a barometer of the Chinese public sentiment in events like this.

'Hong Kong tourists killed in the Philippines' is the No.1 most-searched keyword on Baidu, China's dominant search engine. On Tuesday morning, the hostage killing and its fallout dominated news portals like Sina, 163.com and Sohu.

Sina's Twitter-like microblogging service has been dotted with lit candle signs since Monday, with many tweets praying for the safety of the hostages, then mourning the dead.

A tweet by Hong Kong artist Lawrence Cheng -- 'Let's all lit the candle on microblog' -- was republished roughly 59,000 times and got about 15,000 comments.

But many of the mainland's netizens are angry at how the Philippine authorities handled the situation. 'Did the Philippines try its best to deal with this incident?' Duzoubeige, or Singing Elegy Alone, tweeted. 'I can't help but be angry!!'

Another blogger, named The Grapes of Wrath, wrote, 'The Philippine government didn't take Chinese seriously, and the Philippine police are incompetent professionally, f---- rubbish. They didn't shoot the hostage taker until after the tourists were dead.'

It's not clear how this crisis will affect the relations between China and the Philippines. The Chinese embassy in the Philippines has requested a written explanation of the incident, but the news has triggered a torrent of angry comments. Comments on the story on Sina range from calling for a travel boycott to demanding the Philippines to announce a national mourning with flags flying half-mast.

The outpouring of anger and sadness among the mainland Internet users also demonstrated how much closer emotionally mainland and Hong Kong Chinese have become since China resumed sovereign rule of the former British colony 13 years ago.

As one Sina blogger wrote: 'I feel sad for those who died. (Hong Kong compatriots) please come to travel in China. No matter what you will be in the arms of the motherland. It will be safe.'

It's not clear how this crisis will affect the relations between China and the Philippines. But China's foreign ministry responded in an unuaually fast fasion. Late Monday evening, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi condemned the killing and demanded the Philippine government launch a thorough investigation into the incident, according to a statement on the ministry's website. In a separate statment on Tuesday morning, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Chaoxu said China has sent a team to Manila to deal with the aftermath of the killing and has asked the Philippine side to take pragmatic measures to ensure life and property safety of Chinese nationals in the country.

The strong reaction to the news that the Chinese embassy in the Philippines has requested a written explanation of the incident might explain the ministry's fast response. The news has triggered a torrent of angry comments. Comments on the story on Sina range from calling for a formal apology from the Philippine president, a travel boycott to demanding the Philippines to announce a national mourning with flags flying half-mast.

国内地民众看着菲律宾一名解职警察劫持了一辆运载香港游客的大巴，并杀害部分游客的新闻报道，感到即难以置信又愤怒不已。

这一事件最后造成劫持者和八名游客死亡。长达11个小时的对峙在中国大陆受到了密切关注，有几家电视台中断正常的晚间节目，直播了危机的最后一两个小时。

互联网再一次成了观察中国公众对此类事件情绪反应的晴雨表。

中国第一大搜索引擎百度的新闻热搜词排行榜上，“港游客菲律宾遇难”是搜索频率最高的关键词。周二早晨，人质被杀的消息及其后续影响占据了新浪、网易和搜狐等新闻门户网站的显要位置。

周一以来，新浪微博上面布满了蜡烛符号，先是为人质的安全而祈祷，后来为死者哀悼。

香港艺人郑丹瑞(Lawrence Cheng)周一晚间发了一条微博说，“让我们全体在微博送上烛光”。这条微博被转载了大约59,000次，获得评论约15,000条。

但大陆很多网民对菲律宾当局对这一事件的处理感到愤怒。新浪微博用户“独奏悲歌”说：“菲律宾到底有没有用心去处理这件事？……我忍不住愤怒！”

另一位名为“愤怒的葡萄”的博主写道：“菲律宾政府不拿中国人当回事，警察的职业素质太低了，真***垃圾。人死完了才把劫匪打死。”

还不清楚这场危机将对中国与菲律宾的关系产生怎样的影响。中国驻菲律宾大使馆已要求菲律宾方面给出书面解释，但这条消息本身引来了大量愤怒的评论。在新浪刊载的这条消息后面，留言者有的呼吁抵制菲律宾旅游，也有的要求菲律宾降半旗举国致哀。

内地网民表现出的愤怒与感伤，也可以看出中国对香港恢复行使主权13年来，内地和香港民众在情感上拉近了许多。

比如新浪一位博主说：“为这些遇难的人惋惜，（香港同胞）再旅游还是来国内玩吧，再怎么说这也是祖国母亲的怀抱啊，安全……”