Manila hits out at China after note mishap in Seoul

Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr on Tuesday hit out at China at an international forum after a memo asserting Beijing’s position over their longstanding maritime dispute was delivered to him while he was speaking on stage.

The unusual incident was captured on video at the Seoul Defense Dialogue as the secretary was responding to a question about “gray zone” coercion in the South China Sea. The video shows what appears to be a conference staffer placing it on the table next to him while speaking.

“I have a note here, I think this is from China,” he said, describing it as laying out Beijing’s position on the South China Sea.

Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr speaks during the International Military Law and Operations Conference in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 3.

Photo: EPA

He then reads it line-by-line and offers ad-lib responses to each point, before launching into an attack on what he said was China’s efforts to influence his remarks.

“This is not gray zone anymore,” he said, using a term to describe coercive actions that do not cross into armed conflict.

“This is actual coercion, bullying and aggression,” he said, speaking next to the South Korean and Czech defense ministers.

“Perhaps basic decency and behavior is what China needs to do,” he said, drawing applause from the audience.

He added, speaking in Filipino: “Have some shame.”

When asked about the episode at a regular news briefing in Beijing yesterday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) urged “certain individuals in the Philippines to stop clout-chasing, stop making trouble and stirring up strife, and stop damaging China-Philippines relations and regional stability in the South China Sea.”

Yonhap News Agency said the memo was written by a military attache at the Chinese embassy in Seoul.

An event staffer mistook it for a note from the Philippine delegation and delivered it to Teodoro while he was on stage, the report said.

Teodoro is a frequent and outspoken critic of China’s behavior in the South China Sea, and the two countries’ coast guards have repeatedly clashed in disputed areas.

China also imposed sanctions on Teodoro earlier this year, accusing him of making remarks that damaged bilateral ties and of raising tensions in a relationship already strained by territorial disputes.

The memo said China neither accepts nor recognizes a ruling under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea that acknowledges the Philippines’ claims over part of the disputed waters, Teodoro said.

“I will keep this paper as a memento of how desperate China is and how ineffective its position is in the face of a free audience,” the secretary said.

“Thank you very much for the person who gave me this piece of paper,” he said. “You’ve just done your country a great service. Thank you, and I hope you don’t suffer in a gulag for it.”