Teodoro, Family Banned From Entering China Over South China Sea Remarks

BEIJING — China’s foreign ministry announced sanctions on Thursday, June 11, against Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and his close relatives, saying he had “repeatedly made erroneous remarks” had undermined its “legitimate interests” and bilateral ties.

The sanctions mean Teodoro and his wife and child are prohibited from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, the ministry said in a statement, and that entities in China “are prohibited from engaging in any transactions, cooperation, or other activities with Teodoro and his spouse and child.”

Teodoro is known for using strong language to counter China’s claims over the strategic waters, calling them a “fiction and lie” that no Southeast Asian country would accept.

Teodoro also said last year that Chinese President Xi Jinping runs a “small dictatorship and autocracy” and that his “clique” in the Chinese Communist Party is to blame for what he called Beijing’s aggressive and illegal policies, not Xi’s predecessors or the Chinese people.

The statement from China’s foreign ministry said that Teodoro has “issued many fallacies about China, harming China’s legitimate interests and damages the China-Philippines relationship.”

There was no immediate reaction from Teodoro or from the Philippine government.

While multiple countries have disputing claims with China over the South China Sea, the greatest tensions over the issue have been with the Philippines, where officials have been outspoken on the issue.

The two sides have taken to sharing videos and photos of their confrontations at sea, which have at times turned violent.

An international arbitration panel invalidated China’s claims over the waters in a 2016 ruling based on the 1982 Unite Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, but Beijing refused to participate in the Philippines-initiated arbitration or recognize the decision. – With Reuters