By Priam Nepomuceno | Philippine News Agency
Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. maintained that China “has a lot of trust-building to do” to be an effective dialogue partner in resolving maritime disputes.
In a forum at the 22nd Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend, Teodoro said for dialogue with China to be effective, it “must be coupled with trust.”
“We have to call a spade a spade, and that’s what we see, and that is the biggest stumbling block to dispute resolution or dialogue with China,” Teodoro said, as shown in a video the DND released Tuesday.
Teodoro was responding to a question of a Chinese military official on the possibility of a “proxy war” being launched in Asia, which he called “propaganda spiels”.
“Now, to our Chinese interlocutors, I shall address you collectively and thank you for the propaganda spiels disguised as questions. Unfortunately, in my personal opinion, the fact that the question was asked in the way it does, engenders a deficit of trust in China’s words vis-a-vis its actions,” he added.
Teodoro recalled that in 1995, China constructed bamboo structures around Mischief Reef (also known as Panganiban Reef), which lies some 130 nautical miles from Palawan province and part of the Kalayaan Island Group.
When the Philippines protested about these developments, China claimed that these were only “temporary havens” for its fishers, Teodoro said.
However, he said these were eventually turned into an “artificial military island” that is “heavily militarized”.
“China says that it has peaceful intentions. Why does it continue to deny the Philippines its rightful provenance under international law and UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)? And as proof of this, we do not stand alone. None have agreed with China, and none has condemned the Philippines for standing up against China in the face of a threat to its territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Teodoro said.
