Teodoro Reads China’s 2016 Arbitration Note Aloud, Deepening South China Sea Tensions
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 10
Teodoro Reads China’s 2016 Arbitration Note Aloud, Deepening South China Sea Tensions
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 10
Summary
At the Seoul Defense Dialogue, Gilberto Teodoro publicly read a note handed to him onstage and rebutted China’s South China Sea claims line by line, calling for “shame and decency.”
The note attacked the 2016 UNCLOS arbitration ruling as “illegal, null and void,” even though that decision affirmed Philippine sovereign rights in contested waters and China ratified UNCLOS in 1996.
Yonhap said a Chinese Embassy military attaché in Seoul sent the paper, which conference staff mistakenly delivered as if it came from the Philippine delegation; Beijing said it was unclear what happened.
The clash adds to a worsening maritime dispute that already saw a Chinese Coast Guard sailor strike a Filipino serviceman near Second Thomas Shoal this year, while Manila leans more heavily on U.S. defense assurances.