Teodoro shames China with arbitration note at Seoul forum — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Gilberto Teodoro Jr. read aloud a note from Chinese representatives at the Seoul Defense Dialogue rejecting the 2016 arbitration ruling, responding 'Of course... because you lost,' and declaring 'This is not gray zone anymore, this is actual coercion, bullying and aggression.'
- Mao Ning, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, urged 'the relevant people in the Philippines to stop seeking attention and stirring up trouble,' claiming ignorance of the specific note incident.
- A 2016 Hague tribunal under UNCLOS ruled China's South China Sea claims illegal after the Philippines initiated arbitration in 2013; China refused to join and continues to reject the ruling.
- In July, the U.S., Britain, and about a dozen other Western and Asian countries issued a joint statement reasserting that China's claims were illegal.
- In July, the Philippine military accused China's coast guard of striking a Filipino sailor on the head with a wooden baton at a disputed shoal; China countered that Filipino boats rammed its vessel.
Why it matters: Teodoro's public reading of China's note in front of an international defense audience turned a likely quiet procedural objection into a public indictment — one landing as the U.S., UK, and about a dozen other countries already publicly backed the 2016 ruling in July.
Ask SkimNews
