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Home – China News – China Tried to Silence the Philippines. Instead, It Proved Teodoro Right.

China Tried to Silence the Philippines. Instead, It Proved Teodoro Right.

Wilson Beaver | Olivia Brewer

China tried to intimidate the Philippine defense secretary in the middle of an international security conference. Instead, Beijing gave the world a live demonstration of the coercion its neighbors have been writing about for years, and the Philippines gave a master class in how to push back against Chinese bullying.

On Sept. 8, Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro Jr. was speaking at the Seoul Defense Dialogue in South Korea about security threats in the South China Sea. During the discussion, a conference staff member handed him a note from the audience.

According to conference organizers, the note came from a Chinese military attaché from the Chinese Embassy in Seoul. It repeated Beijing’s rejection of the July 12, 2016, South China Sea arbitration ruling.

Teodoro could have ignored it.

Instead, he read it aloud.

When the note argued that the arbitration award had “no binding force,” Teodoro challenged the claim. When it stated that China did not accept or recognize the decision, he gave a response that quickly spread online.

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“Of course, because you lost.”

The audience laughed, but the exchange revealed something more serious.

China had just demonstrated the exact behavior Teodoro was........

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