Philippine defense chief slams China over audience note on South China Sea at Seoul forum
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro speaks during a panel session at the Seoul Defense Dialogue at The Grand Lotte Seoul hotel in Seoul, Tuesday. Captured from the Seoul Defense Dialogue 2026 YouTube livestream
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro lashed out at China during a Seoul defense forum Tuesday after receiving an audience note defending Beijing's rejection of a 2016 international tribunal ruling upholding Manila's maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Teodoro was addressing maritime challenges facing his country and the importance of compliance with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) during a panel discussion at the Seoul Defense Dialogue when a forum staff member passed him a note from the audience.
Pausing his remarks, Teodoro read the note aloud to the room, which asserted Beijing's stance against the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling that invalidated China's "nine-dash line" claims beyond its territory in the South China Sea and reaffirmed the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone.
Although the PCA ruling was final and legally binding under UNCLOS, China has rejected the decision as "null and void" and continued to build artificial islands around the Spratly Islands and interfered with the Philippines' maritime activities.
The secretary read the slip line by line and offered sharp retorts to each point. When the note claimed that arbitration violated fundamental international law, he shot back, "So what you're saying is UNCLOS violates international law? That's what you mean."
Reading the part where it read the PCA award has "no binding force," he said, "Because you don't want to be subjected to UNCLOS," and to that Beijing "neither accepts nor recognizes" the ruling, with Teodoro quipping, "Of course, because you lost."
Teodoro then held up the slip of paper to the room, denouncing the gesture as a display of China's "desperate and ineffective" stance, accusing Beijing of a complete lack of "basic decency" and utter disrespect for international law.
"Perhaps basic decency and behavior are what China needs," he said, drawing applause from the audience. "This is not a gray zone anymore. This is actual coercion, bullying and aggression."
The note came from a Chinese military attache with the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, according to forum organizers.
The attache handed the slip to a staff member and asked that it be passed to the secretary. The staff member mistook it for a message from Teodoro's own delegation and delivered it directly to him while he was speaking.
Teodoro landed a biting jab at the official who handed over the note.
"You've just done your country a great service. Thank you, and I hope you don't suffer in a gulag for it."