President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has described China's decision to declare Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro persona non grata as unhelpful, warning that it escalates tensions between the two countries rather than advancing dialogue on the West Philippine Sea dispute.
Marcos: Declaration achieves very little
In a statement, Marcos said the move by Beijing does not promote resolution of the maritime conflict and could increase the risk of misunderstandings or more serious incidents. “Well, the declaration of Beijing, as Secretary Teodoro, as persona non grata, I guess, in China, it’s just not. It’s very unhelpful, in my view. Because it really achieves very little. It’s more a how do you say, a response to some of the things that he, some of the pronouncements that he’s made in foreign fora. But it does not move the discussion between the Philippines and China regarding the territorial conflicts that we have. It does not move that process forward in any way,” Marcos said.
Philippines maintains open communication channels
Marcos emphasized that the Philippines continues to keep open lines of communication with Beijing at the government, business, and other sector levels to reduce tensions. He noted that closing another communication channel, particularly between the defense ministries, would not help achieve the goal of managing tensions in the West Philippine Sea. “And cutting off another line of communication, which is through our defense ministries, I do not see how it will help that process that we’re trying to achieve to manage the tensions in the West Philippine Sea, to lessen the likelihood of something happening that will be a trigger for something worse. So again, as I said, it’s China’s prerogative, but I really feel that it was unhelpful,” the President said.
