At a multilateral security meeting hosted by the Korean government on the 8th, the Philippines and China publicly clashed over territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Gilberto Teodoro, the Philippines Minister of the Ministry of National Defense, took part as a panelist at the Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) held in the morning at The Grand Lotte Seoul, hosted by the Ministry of National Defense, and was speaking to the effect that adherence to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is needed internationally. He noted that several countries do not comply with it and called such acts illegal.
The Philippines is currently in a dispute with China over territorial claims in the South China Sea. For this reason, Minister Teodoro's remarks were interpreted as aimed at China. In 2013, the Philippines filed a lawsuit with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), saying that China violated UNCLOS, and in 2016 effectively won the ruling. But China has not recognized the decision and continues to assert sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.
As he continued, Minister Teodoro received a note delivered from the audience.
Minister Teodoro said, "It seems to be a note delivered by the Chinese side," and read it. The note reportedly said, "The (South China Sea) arbitral award is illegal and void."
He said, "If this is the position China conveyed to me, it is an act of throwing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to the floor and trampling it," adding that it also lacked the basic courtesy due to Korea as the host country. He went on, "This is no longer a gray zone. It is practical coercion, harassment, and an act of aggression," then said, "I will keep this paper as a souvenir to show, before a free audience, how desperate China is and how unconvincing its position is."
It was learned that the person who delivered the note to Minister Teodoro that day was in fact a defense attaché working at the Chinese Embassy in Korea. The attaché asked event staff to deliver the note to Minister Teodoro during the talk, and the staffer, mistaking the attaché for a Philippine official, handed over the note as is. As a result, the territorial waters conflict between the Philippines and China was exposed as is in public at an international forum held in Korea.
The Philippines and China are known to have engaged in heated verbal battles over the South China Sea issue at other multilateral meetings in the past. The Ministry of National Defense did not issue a separate position regarding this matter.
In June, China imposed entry bans and transaction restrictions on Minister Teodoro and his family, saying they harmed its interests with "false assertions." At the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines issued a statement criticizing China's sanctions as "an unfriendly act that makes bilateral relations even more complicated."