Gibo: Talks With China Useless

It makes no sense to engage China in bilateral talks over the West Philippine Sea, as it has not shown sincerity at all, according to Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who nonetheless stressed the need for keeping the door always open for negotiations.

“It’s not fruitful. There should be bilateral discussions, but at a time when we prove, when we are sure – this is my personal belief – that formal bilateral discussions should only be held when it is proven that they are sincere,” Teodoro told reporters on Monday, Nov. 27.

“But the President himself has said that their illegal activities continue unabated, so to enter into bilateral negotiations… in that context will just be playing into their playbook and it will be an attempt to constrain the Philippines from enforcing its claims which it rightfully has under international law,” he pointed out.

Teodoro reiterated that adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and archipelagic doctrine for the Philippines “is vital to the integrity of our country as an archipelagic country, just like the four other archipelagic countries in the world.”

“It’s not a question of growth, it’s not question of supply lines or freedom of commerce or navigation, it’s a question of survivability, sustainability for future generations,” he said.

He admitted that any bilateral talks is the President’s call or of the foreign affairs chief, and that there should be guarantee of China’s sincerity.

“It must be based on fundamental principles and it must be based on sincerity, that it shall not be used merely as a weapon in order to constrain the Philippines,” he said.

The DND chief said the joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea aimed at promoting a rules-based international order in Philippine territorial waters would continue and would be sustained.

“If they laugh it off, if they laugh off significant initiatives according to international law… rules-based international order is to their detriment… I mean they are just saying that they were the big bully here and try to, you know, anger us… That’s not the way we’re doing things,” he said in reaction to China’s reportedly just laughing off last week’s separate joint patrols be-tween the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the forces of the United States and Australia.

“It is a sustainable endeavor. That’s why we entered into it in the first place. We do not enter into unsustainable initiatives and hence the phase and the tempo is based on the strategic guidance of the President, and our job, my main job, is to make it sustainable and the armed forces’ job is to make it operationally secure and operationally efficient and effective,” Teodoro said.