MANILA -- The Bahay Tsinoy Museum has reopened for the first time after the pandemic, with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian among the invited guests.

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Located inside Intramuros in Manila, the Bahay Tsinoy Museum showcases a collection of documents and dioramas that tells the history of the ethnic Chinese and the events that shaped the Filipino-Chinese history through culture, trade and language.

It was established in 1999 by the Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran Incorporated.

Manalo and Huang were separately given a tour of the museum.

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In his keynote speech, Manalo underscored how the Filipino-Chinese community can help in enhancing ties with China.

“As Secretary of Foreign Affairs, I believe that the Filipino-Chinese community plays an important role in our community, as well as our ties with China. The community is a source of honesty and sincerity that cuts across our people to people ties and bilateral ties with China. After all, at the end of the day, diplomacy is really about relations between and among peoples. The reopening of the museum comes at an opportune time, barely 2 months after the celebration of the 22nd Philippine-China Friendship Day, and I urge our Filipino-Chinese community to help support our diplomatic efforts to enhance our ties with China,” he said.

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Huang meanwhile expressed his appreciation for the museum’s ability to show the long history of friendly exchanges and shared history between the Chinese and the Filipinos.

Huang also underscored the “indelible contributions” made by the Chinese to the cultural and economic prosperity of the Philippines.

He reminded how 100,000 Chinese were also killed resisting Spanish colonialists and how the Chinese Anti-Japanese Guerilla Forces called Wha-Chi fought alongside Filipinos during the Japanese occupation.

"Together, let’s recount the touching stories of the close kinship between our two peoples whose blood is thicker than water, and to implement the important consensus between the leaders of our two countries on promoting cultural exchanges between China and the Philippines,” Huang said in his speech.

The two officials were seated away from each, but Manalo gave Huang a friendly wave at the beginning of the program, as well as a handshake after his speech. No further interactions were seen between the two.

The tension between Manila and Beijing flared up again after the Chinese Coast Guard allegedly blocked Philippine boats during a resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre last August 5.