China is the “biggest disruptor” of peace in Southeast Asia, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said Tuesday, as tensions escalate between Manila and Beijing over disputed reefs and waters in the South China Sea.
Teodoro made the comments at a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command conference following repeated confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels over the past year.
Beijing claims nearly the entire South China Sea, dismissing rival claims from other nations, including the Philippines, and ignoring an international ruling that rejects its position as legally unfounded.
China’s claims extend to reefs and waters within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone, which reaches approximately 370 kilometers (200 nautical miles) from its coast.
“China is the biggest disruptor of international peace in the ASEAN region,” Teodoro said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
China has deployed boats to patrol the busy waterway and constructed militarized artificial islands to bolster its claims.
Teodoro called on other countries to denounce China’s “illegal acts” and apply pressure until China ceases its actions. “We need a collective consensus and a strong call out against China,” he said. “We are struggling against a more powerful adversary.”
His remarks follow a Chinese statement that it had implemented “control measures” against two Philippine Coast Guard ships that entered waters near Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands. The Philippine Coast Guard had sent the vessels to deliver provisions to a ship stationed at the reef.
Recent confrontations have occurred around Sabina Shoal, situated 140 kilometers (86 miles) west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200 kilometers from China’s Hainan island. Both sides have stationed coast guard vessels at the shoal and Manila fears that China may plan to build an artificial island there.
Relations between the countries have strained as President Ferdinand Marcos’s administration takes a firm stance against Chinese actions in the contested waters. In June, the Philippine military reported that a sailor lost a thumb in a confrontation where Beijing’s coast guard also confiscated or destroyed Philippine equipment, including firearms, near the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratlys.
