Beijing Tells Manila To Stop The "Theatrics" After The Philippines Defence Secretary Reads Out Note on South China Sea Dispute

New Delhi : When Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro received a note from a Chinese defence attaché on the South China Sea dispute while he was on stage at an international security forum hosted by South Korea's Ministry of National Defence, he did not hold back.

The note reiterated China's well-known rejection of the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration Order, which found China had no historic rights to resources in the disputed waters and found that Beijing had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights.

 

Philippines and China have a longstanding dispute over parts of the South China Sea.

Teodoro, who was taking questions from the floor at the forum, blasted Beijing and said the note, which included China's rejection of the order, showed disrespect for international law.

The moment has gone viral on social media, where some users applauded the defence secretary for forcefully standing up to China. “So, perhaps basic decency and behaviour is what China needs to do," he said, accusing Beijing of "coercion, bullying, and aggression.”

 

He rebutted each claim included in the note, which he read out line by line.

Reading out a portion that said Beijing didn't accept the ruling, he retorted: "Of course, because you lost."

He added that China had "thrown UNCLOS to the floor and is trampling upon it."

UNCLOS, or the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an international agreement that sets the legal rules for the world's oceans, creating borders and managing sea resources. The 2016 order was legally binding under UNCLOS, which China has officially ratified.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have continued to simmer over the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, with clashes often breaking out between the coast guards of the two countries, raising concerns that this will steadily lead to a military escalation.

 

China has also continued to build artificial islands in the South China Sea to enforce its claims in waters claimed not just by the Philippines but also by Vietnam.

The dispute over the note is now snowballing into a major diplomatic episode between China and the Philippines.

Reacting to the note being read out by the Philippine defence secretary, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, "We urge the certain individual of the Philippine side to cut the provocations and theatrics, and stop undermining China-Philippines relations and stability in the South China Sea."

She further noted that the Philippines unilaterally initiated the case, which "is a distortion and abuse of the UNCLOS dispute settlement mechanism."