The Philippines’ top defense secretary talks about tensions in the South China Sea

Amid tensions in the South China Sea, NPR sat down with Philippines’ Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro. He has accused China of “gutter talk” and “propaganda” in its territorial claims.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Philippines today. He spoke about tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANTONY BLINKEN: These waterways are critical to the Philippines, to its security, to its economy, but they’re also critical to the interests of the region, the United States and the world.

CHANG: Senior Filipino officials have been increasingly outspoken, accusing China of gutter talk and propaganda about its territorial claims. Many of these accusations come from the Secretary of National Defense for the Philippines, Gilberto Teodoro. He is the country’s top defense advisor. And NPR’s Emily Feng sat down with him in Manila this week.

EMILY FENG, BYLINE: China and the Philippines have never seen eye to eye on who owns what in the South China Sea – or what the Philippines calls the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines even took China to international court and won in 2016, a ruling China has never accepted. But starting last December, this disagreement is getting more physical, with numerous collisions between Chinese and Filipino navy boats in contested waters. Why this uptick in tensions? – I ask Teodoro.

GILBERTO TEODORO: Because, finally, the Filipinos had the gumption to say stop.

FENG: It’s also a big swing away from the more China-friendly positioning of the Philippines’ last president, Rodrigo Duterte. Since 2022, the Philippines has had a new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and he and Teodoro have made it a point to be extremely vocal, taking public stances against the territorial claims of China – or the PRC, as it’s also called.

TEODORO: The PRC always says we will deal with these issues through consultation and…