Philippines Forced to Defend Itself 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 pushing the Philippines to take defensive measures and stand up for its rights. Teodoro highlighted that China’s aggressive tactics in the West Philippine Sea, including the use of maritime forces to dominate the area, are tantamount to forcibly stealing the Philippines’ sovereign rights within its exclusive economic zone. He emphasized that the Philippines has the exclusive right to explore and exploit resources in this zone, rights that China is infringing upon not just through rhetoric but through physical force. Teodoro pointed out that these actions stem from China’s controversial maritime law, which claims nearly all of the South China Sea as its internal waters. He stressed that China’s behavior leaves the Philippines with no choice but to defend itself and assert its rights, placing the blame squarely on China. Furthermore, Teodoro accused China of attempting to manipulate narratives, undermine the Philippine economy, and dissuade other nations from supporting the Philippines. He also criticized China’s dismissal of the 2016 Arbitral Award, which invalidated China’s nine-dash-line claim, as merely ‘a scrap of paper’, despite the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.