The Foreign Ministry yesterday urged Chinese citizens going abroad to abide by local laws and regulations after 145 Chinese business people were arrested, then later released, by Philippine immigration authorities.

The Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday all the detained business people had been released on bail after their arrests last week. The Chinese Embassy in Manila was not available to give details about the situation.

According to the investigations by Philippine immigration authorities, among the 145 Chinese business people, 89 did not have passports and 30 held expired visas.

They should have been repatriated in line with Philippine laws, but the Philippine immigration office considered the case an exception, allowing them to be bailed out after each paying some money, according to a news release from the official website of the Foreign Ministry.

Philippine immigration officials arrested 102 Chinese businessmen on last Wednesday afternoon and another 43 on last Thursday.

(China Daily December 20, 2005)