MANILA, Philippines — Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said he was “not an actor” who would engage in “theatrics” as claimed by the China Foreign Ministry after he lambasted Beijing for “disrespect” at the Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) 2026 in South Korea earlier this week.
During the SDD, Teodoro channeled President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 's “Mahiya naman kayo ng kaunti” when he called out China for lacking basic decency and behavior he described as a downright disrespect for the host country of South Korea.
“What’s more theatrical than Wang Yi saying that Mischief Reef was for peaceful purposes and they would never militarize?” Teodoro told reporters on the sidelines of the Manila Strategy Forum in Parañaque City.
During a fireside chat, Teodoro received a handwritten note stating China’s position on the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award.
Apart from saying that it was the Philippines who violated and undermined the integrity and authority of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), China Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said it urged a “certain individual from the Philippines to stop the provocation and theatrics” so as not to shake Beijing-Manila relations and the stability in the South China Sea.
Teodoro also said the organizers could easily verify whether the event was staged or not. He confirmed that the note indeed came from a Chinese delegate relayed to him through an event staff member.
“Please ask them, I have too much respect for our Korean brothers and sisters to stage something like that,” he said.
