Teodoro Rebuts China's Note at Seoul Defense Forum: 'Of Course, Because You Lost'

MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. assailed Chinese officials in Seoul after receiving a surprise message from them onstage while mid-answer at a regional defense summit. Teodoro was taking a question about Chinese gray-zone coercion in the South China Sea at the Seoul Defense Dialogue when a man walked up behind him and left a sheet of paper on his table. Gray-zone tactics are actions that pressure another state without crossing into armed attack. A visibly puzzled Teodoro then began to read the note. "I have a note here. I think this is from China," he said. The exchange was carried live on the forum's feed, and a short clip was later uploaded by the Department of National Defense (DND) on social media. A picture of the handwritten note, uploaded by the DND yesterday, shows the note ran to two paragraphs on hotel stationery. Teodoro read the first paragraph a line at a time, answering as he went. "China's position on the arbitration was clear, consistent and firm," the note began, and the arbitration violated fundamental principles of international law. "So what you signed — UNCLOS — violates international law," Teodoro said. "That's what you mean." The so-called award was illegal, null and void, the note continued. "So say you," he replied. It had no binding force, the note read. "Because you don't want to be subjected to UNCLOS," Teodoro continued. China "neither accepted nor recognized the award and would never accept any claim or action arising from it," the note read. "Of course, because you lost," the defense chief quipped. The second paragraph, which Teodoro did not read out, said China would keep "safeguarding its sovereignty, rights and interests in accordance with the law, and would handle maritime disputes with the parties concerned through dialogue and consultation, to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea." Nothing in the note departs from what Beijing has repeatedly iterated since the 2016 arbitral ruling. China's foreign ministry rejected the same award during its 10th anniversary in July. "How can you deal with a country in an international forum, beyond the question asked to me, disrespecting the organizers of this forum, how do you expect to deal with it civilly?" Teodoro said. "Is this the right paper to post to me when I'm being asked a question on the floor?" Teodoro added. "And how will you treat this kind of behavior?" If the note represented China's position, he said, it disrespected international law — "throwing UNCLOS to the floor and trampling upon it" — as well as South Korea as host and the rest of the delegates in the hall. "Perhaps basic decency and behavior is what China needs to do... In Filipino, maging disente lang kayo ng konti, mahiya naman kayo ng konti. (Let's be more decent. Let's have some shame)," he said. The note came from the office of the Chinese embassy's defence attaché in Seoul, who was attending the forum, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported, citing multiple sources. The Seoul Defence Dialogue is hosted by South Korea's defense ministry and is among the region's larger annual gatherings of defense officials. Teodoro has been one of the Marcos administration's sharpest critics of Beijing and is so far the first and only member of the Cabinet to be sanctioned by China. On June 11, China's foreign ministry barred him and his family from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, and prohibited organizations and individuals in China from any transactions with them. The Department of Foreign Affairs called the sanctions an unfriendly act that further complicates bilateral relations.