MANILA – China’s ongoing illegal actions in Philippine waters are pushing the country to defend itself and assert its rights, according to Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
“What China is doing amounts to forcibly stealing the Philippines’ sovereign rights in our exclusive economic zone, where we have the sole right to explore and exploit resources,” Teodoro said during a recent interview on the Hoover Institution’s Battlegrounds podcast. “This isn’t just a matter of words, but one of force.”
The DND chief referred specifically to China’s continued unlawful activities in the West Philippine Sea, where Chinese maritime forces continue to swarm, in defiance of international law. This situation stems from China’s enactment of a controversial maritime law, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea as its own internal waters.
Teodoro emphasized that these actions are compelling the Philippines to stand its ground and assert its territorial rights. “What China is doing forces the Philippines to defend itself and assert its rights against their unlawful actions,” he said. “They have only themselves to blame. If we’re choosing the right path, the morally correct one, not just the legally correct one, we are standing on the side of justice.”
He also pointed out that China is attempting to undermine the Philippines by “manipulating narratives, influencing our domestic economy, and pressuring other countries not to support us.”
This includes China’s dismissal of the 2016 Arbitral Ruling, in which the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that China’s nine-dash-line claim in the South China Sea has no legal basis. Teodoro noted that Beijing has disparaged the ruling, calling it a “scrap of paper.”
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