Philippines Forced to Defend Against China’s Illegal Maritime Actions, Says Defense Secretary

In a recent interview with Hoover Institution’s ‘Battlegrounds’, Philippine National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. expressed that China’s unlawful actions in the country’s waters are compelling the Philippines to stand up and protect its rights. Teodoro highlighted that China’s aggressive tactics in the West Philippine Sea, including the use of maritime forces to swarm the area, are tantamount to forcibly stealing the Philippines’ sovereign rights within its exclusive economic zone. He emphasized that the Philippines has the sole right to explore and exploit resources in this zone, rights which China is challenging not just with words but with physical force. The root of these tensions stems from China’s maritime law, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea as its internal waters. Teodoro stressed that these actions by China leave the Philippines with no choice but to defend itself and assert its rights. He further criticized China for attempting to manipulate narratives, undermine the Philippine economy, and discourage international support for the Philippines. Additionally, Teodoro rebuked China’s dismissal of the 2016 Arbitral Award as merely ‘a scrap of paper’, a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that invalidated China’s nine-dash-line claim as having no legal basis.