Philippines says it's under pressure from China to cede claims in South China Sea

The Manila Times

Philippines says it's under pressure from China to cede claims in South China Sea  China is putting ever-greater pressure on the Philippines to cede its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, Secretary of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday, November 12, after a meeting with his Australian counterpart in Canberra.  "What we see is an increasing demand by Beijing for us to concede our sovereign rights in the area," he said, adding that the Philippines was a "victim of Chinese aggression."  China and the Philippines have sparred repeatedly this year over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, one of Asia's most contested features.  Teodoro's meeting with his Australian counterpart Richard Marles, their fifth since August 2023, reflects growing security ties between the countries, both of whom have expressed concern about Chinese activity in areas of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.  AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION / REUTERS VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes  #worldnews  #philippines  #china  #westphilippinesea

Transcript

00:00Because we want to lay the foundation of principled cooperation between the two of our countries.

00:11Given the fact that we live in the same part of the world, we have an interest in ensuring

00:16peace and stability here.

00:19And the only framework we can operate on is on the basis of the UN Charter and international

00:24law and to resist any unilateral attempts of redefining it to the selfish interest of

00:32any one state.

00:33We also agreed to share further intelligence information on counterterrorism and on other

00:42mutually – on security threats that we feel affect our countries, both our countries.

00:52I really don't expect some sort of a statement from Mr. Trump, hopefully not.

01:03I really don't have any preconditions or any assumptions as to what will be the outcome

01:12of his administration, except on what we are working on, on institutional ties this time.

01:18Given the fact that we have an interest, both the United States and the Philippines,

01:23in ensuring that our partnership continue because – not totally, but principally because

01:30of shared threats, and that is undoubtedly the overreach and the aggressive and illegal

01:39activities of China.

01:42And if that changes, then maybe the calculus changes.

01:47What we see is an increasing demand by Beijing for us to concede our sovereign rights in

01:53the area because of our need to explore and exploit the resources in these areas for the

02:00benefit of our own people.

02:03And that is clear.

02:04We don't need to enter into a geopolitical nexus for determining the root cause of the

02:10problem because we are direct victims of Chinese aggression in this and in a concentrated

02:17area so far, thus far, in the West Philippine Sea.

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