South China Sea row flares after Teodoro mocks China note at Seoul forum

Philippine Defence Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr publicly mocked China's note at the Seoul Defence Dialogue over the 2016 South China Sea ruling. The exchange sharpened a long-running maritime dispute and highlighted Beijing's continued rejection of international arbitration.

In Short

• Teodoro cited the 2016 tribunal ruling rejecting Beijing's sweeping sea claims
• A note from China interrupted his speech at the Seoul forum
• He called Beijing's stance shameless and disrespectful to international law

China on Wednesday accused the Philippines of "stirring up trouble" after Philippine Defence Minister Gilberto Teodoro Jr. made sharp remarks about Beijing's increasingly aggressive pursuit of maritime claims in the South China Sea at a defence forum in South Korea.

Teodoro used his speech to stress the need to uphold a 2016 arbitration ruling that said China's claims had no legal basis. Beijing has long rejected that decision, even as tensions continue in the disputed waters.

While speaking at the Seoul Defence Dialogue on Tuesday, Teodoro said a person came on stage and handed him a note that had come from China. Reading from it, he said the message stated that "China neither accepts nor recognises" the arbitration ruling. "Of course," he then told the audience, "because you lost." He went on to say, "Have a little bit of decency, have a little bit of shame," adding that the note showed disrespect to both the forum and international law.

Chinese representatives took part in the forum but were not featured as panellists or speakers, and it was not clear who had sent the note. Asked about the incident in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said she was not familiar with the "specific situation" but added that "China's position on the South China Sea arbitration case has been clear and consistent." She said, "We urge the relevant people in the Philippines to stop seeking attention and stirring up trouble and to cease undermining China-Philippines relations and stability in the South China Sea."

China refused to join the arbitration launched by the Philippines in 2013 after a tense standoff in the contested waters a year earlier that ended with Beijing effectively seizing a disputed shoal. A tribunal set up in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ruled in 2016 that China's claims in the South China Sea were illegal. China rejected the ruling and continues to defend its claims to virtually the entire sea passage. In July, the US, Britain and a dozen other Western and Asian countries issued a joint statement reasserting that China's claims in the South China Sea were illegal based on the ruling.

The area has seen repeated territorial standoffs involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. In one of the latest incidents, the Philippine military in July accused China's coast guard of injuring a Filipino sailor at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The military said Chinese coast guard personnel aboard a motorboat repeatedly struck the sailor on the head with a wooden baton, injuring him and damaging his smaller vessel. China said two rubber boats belonging to an "illegally" stationed Filipino vessel had rammed the Chinese boat. Referring to such actions, Teodoro told the forum: "This is not gray zone anymore, this is actual coercion, bullying and aggression."

Teodoro also said, "I will keep this paper as a memento of how desperate China is and how ineffective its position is in the face of a free audience." The exchange at the forum reflected the continuing dispute over the South China Sea and China's rejection of the 2016 arbitration ruling.

With PTI Inputs

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