Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro was midway through a panel at the Seoul Defense Dialogue on Tuesday when a note reached him from the audience. He stopped, read it aloud, and took it apart in front of the room.
The note set out Beijing’s position against the 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea. That ruling found China’s “nine-dash line,” the sweeping historical claim Beijing uses to justify sovereignty over most of the sea, had no legal basis under international law. It also affirmed the Philippines’ rights within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, which overlaps waters China claims. Manila had brought the case under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Beijing calls the ruling void and has kept up naval and coast guard activity in waters the tribunal found belong to the Philippines.
“So what you’re saying is Unclos violates international law? That’s what you mean,” Teodoro said from the stage.
When the note described the ruling as having “no binding force,” he answered: “Because you don’t want to be subjected to Unclos.” He added that Beijing “neither accepts nor recognizes” it. “Of course, because you lost,” he said.
Teodoro then held up the slip of paper and called it a sign of China’s “desperate and ineffective” position. “Perhaps basic decency and behavior are what China needs,” he said, and the audience applauded. “This is not a gray zone anymore. This is actual coercion, bullying and aggression.”
According to multiple sources cited by the Korea JoongAng Daily, the office of the Chinese Embassy’s defense attaché in Seoul wrote the note to convey the Chinese government’s view. The attaché was at the event. The note went to an event staff member, who passed it directly to Teodoro. The incident drew criticism of how the event was run.
South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense hosted the forum, held at The Grand Lotte in Seoul’s Jung District, and issued no statement on the episode. Teodoro was one of four ministerial-level officials who attended that day. The Philippines and China have traded heated words over the South China Sea at other multilateral forums before.
