1 day ago
5
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ top defense official slammed what he called “pretend journalists” at Asia’s premiere defense dialogue on the same day that he criticized Chinese military officials at a panel for asking “propaganda spiels disguised as questions.”
At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Philippine Defense Secretary Giliberto Teodoro, Jr. again continued his streak as among the loudest in the Philippine government to call out China for its disinformation operations and hypocrisy, particularly on issues related to Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
Teodoro led the Philippine delegation to the Shangri-La Dialogue, a premiere defense forum in the region. His strong statements came in several waves — his opening salvo was criticizing China for not sending a delegation to the dialogue.
Beijing’s top defense official, Dong Jun, skipped this year’s dialogue in Singapore. Instead, China sent a delegation composed of personalities from the People’s Liberation Army’s National Defense University.
To this development, said Teodoro, China sent “pretend journalists.”
In a post on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) social media page on Sunday, June 1, Teodoro called out Chinese nationals who tried to interview him and AFP chief General Romeo Brawner. Jr.
“Si [Brawner], ‘di sumagot sa tanong nila. Ako, nakipag-sagutan dahil ang tanong nila pabalagbag. Tapos ang narrative nila sa WeChat, baliktad na. ‘Yan ang gawain ng China dito — kumakalat ngayon na video na ayaw sagutin ni [Brawner… ang tanong tungkol sa] provision sa South China Sea daw,” said Teodoro, speaking off-the-cuff beside Brawner himself.
(General Brawner did not answer their questions. I answered back because they were asking so rudely. And then their narrative on WeChat was twisted. That’s what China is doing there. There’s a video going viral of Brawner supposedly refusing to answer questions about provisions in the South China Sea.)
Still referring to the series of questions that two Chinese media tried to ask the AFP chief, Teodoro added: “‘Yan ang utos ng Peking… hindi ng Beijing, ha. Imbes na magpadala ng defense minister, nagpadala sila ng mga bata na nagpapanggap na journalist.”
(That’s Peking’s orders… not of Beijing. Instead of sending their defense minister, they sent young people pretending to be journalists.)
A video on Chinese state-owned China Daily‘s program “Media Unlocked” showed the hosts chasing Brawner trying to catch him for a chance interview. Brawner and an aide waved the two off.
The pair who pursued Teodoro and Brawner asked about tensions in the South China Sea and the Philippine plan for features in the area Manila calls Pag-asa Cays. Recalling that encounter, Brawner said in the AFP-released video: “Kahapon, hinarang ako. Pinipilit nila akong tanungin. Hindi ko sinagot, but then later on naglabas sila sa WeChat binaliktad nila sa WeChat. Umiiwas raw tayo sa tanong nila sa West Philippines Sea.”
(Yesterday, they tried to block me. They tried to ask questions. I didn’t answer but later on, a video on WeChat made it seem I was avoiding them. It made it seem like I was avoiding questions about the West Philippine Sea.)
Brawner said he was rushing to a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the dialogue.
Teodoro, meanwhile, said he engaged in conversation with Chinese media personalities. “Kanina, nakita ko tong mga batang ito, so kinawayan ko. [Sabi ko], ‘Hello, mga agents ng MSS!’ ‘D na lumapit. ‘Yung mga yan, ‘di journalist ang mga yan,” he said.
(Earlier I saw these young people and I said hi. I said, ‘Hello, MSS agents.’ They did not come close. They aren’t real journalists, those people.)
MSS refers to the Ministry of State Security or China’s civilian intelligence agency.
Teodoro, recently confirmed to be remain in the Cabinet of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said that he and Brawner recorded their video statement in light of the clips making the rounds on Chinese social media.
“Ganyan kababaw mag-isip itong Tsina. Imbes na mag-engage, binabastos ang mga proseso na ganito,” added Teodoro. (That’s how shallow China is. Instead of engaging, they disrespect processes like this.)
Tensions between the Philippines and China have remained high in recent years, especially after the Marcos administration made it policy for the Philippines to be more assertive in its rights and claims in the West Philippine Sea, or parts of the South China Sea that are within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.
The Philippines has reported repeated incidents of harassment in the South China Sea — in the form of tailing, dangerous maneuvers, water cannoning, and ramming — at the hands of Chinese vessels, typically of the China Coast Guard.
Teodoro at Shangri-La
This is not the first time Teodoro, who took over as DND secretary in July 2023, has made strong statements against Beijing. In the past, he dismissed China’s statements — particularly on the Philippines’ defense and security decisions, and its alliance with the United States — as being hypocritical or based on outright lies.
On the sidelines of the forum in Singapore, he said Beijing must overcome a “deficit of trust and credibility.”
Speaking at a panel of the dialogue also on June 1, the Philippine defense chief told a room full of defense experts and officials: “The Philippine position on the West Philippine Sea is not a function of Sino-American strategic rivalry. Instead, it is caused, no doubt, by the overreach of the Chinese Communist Party, of which the most glaring evidence is the nine-, ten- or 11-dash line that has absolutely no basis in international law.”
“President Xi Jinping has declared that ‘China must lead the reform of the global governance system with concepts of fairness and justice’. However, what the Chinese government considers fair and just may stand in stark contrast to the norms and values accepted by the rest of the world, especially the smaller countries. To envision a China-led international order, we only need to look at how they treat their much smaller neighbors in the South China Sea, which runs counter to the ‘peaceful rise’ they initially promised,” he added.
Teodoro was part of a panel on Cross-Regional Security Linkages alongside Thai Defense Minister Phumtam Wechayachai and Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė.
Addressing questions from the China National Defense University’s Senior Colonels Zhang Chi and Qi Dapeng, Teodoro said: “To our Chinese interlocutors, I shall address you collectively. And thank you for the propaganda spiels disguised as questions.”
Teodoro’s quip was met with applause and laughter from the audience.
Zhang asked if Teodoro was concerned if a “proxy war in Asia might be launched,” referencing United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s warnings on the proxy war between nuclear powers in the Russia–Ukraine war. Qi, meanwhile, asked Teodoro if the Philippines would “follow” the advice of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to engage in talk with China.
For good measure, Qi, like Zhang, asked if the Philippines “[intends] to act as a proxy for external powers.”
Teodoro, addressing Qi’s question, said members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were different sovereign countries with “its own territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
“I am sure that if what China is doing to the Philippines is done to Malaysia or to any ASEAN country, you would see a different reaction. Certainly, as an ASEAN brother, the Philippines will stand up with that ASEAN brother in time of need, in support and in defense of what is international law and [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]. As members of UNCLOS, we are all committed to supporting it,” said Teodoro.
Teodoro then raised the Mischief Reef incident of 1995 — when China promised the Philippines that it had only wanted to built shelter for fisherfolk. The reef has since turned into an “artificial military island,” said Teodoro.
“China says that it has peaceful intentions. Why does it continue to deny the Philippines its rightful provenance under international law and UNCLOS? As proof of this, we do not stand alone. No country in the world supports the nine-dash-line claim of China, or the idea that waters within this nine-dash line are internal waters of China,” he said.
The nine-dash line is Beijing’s basis for claiming almost all of the South China Sea, a vital waterway for global trade. – Rappler.com
