When you are your country’s minister of defense, or any high official of the government attending an international forum, expect that from among the audience there are people who espouse ideas and advocacies directly opposed to yours.
Should they engage you in a face-to-face debate or ask uncomfortable questions, as an official you should be prepared to reply hard but in a civilized exchange, even if you are given to dishing out diatribes and vitriols.
What occurred on Sept. 8, 2026 in Seoul was vintage Gibo. A hotel staff handed him a piece of paper on Hotel Lotte’s letterhead, on which was written China’s position on issues concerning the South China Sea. Without investigating if the letter was really for him as it was given by a hotel staff member and had no salutation, and without even knowing who wrote it, Gibo Teodoro proceeded with his theatrics, rants and malicious accusations against China, something that he is accustomed to do whether locally or abroad, especially in his hometown Malta.
The incident happened at the Seoul Defense Dialogue and Gemini AI and other news sources reported that the note allegedly came from a Chinese military attache.
The handwritten message just reasserted Beijing’s standard stance on the SCS, such as China has been “clear, consistent and firm”; that the 2016 Arbitral Award was “illegal, null and void” and that China “neither accepted nor recognized” the ruling and would never accept any actions arising from it.
Gibo was piqued and said, “Of course, because you lost.” Hoy, Gibo, China did not lose in that Award; your US-Aquino arbitration panel itself admitted that they could not rule on the question of sovereignty in the disputed waters and rocks. Also, from the very start, China declared that it was not participating in that US-Aquino charade, since it was a travesty of the correct way UNCLOS mandates countries in resolving internal disputes.
Gibo said the note was deeply disrespectful of their Korean hosts, and it was an act of “coercion, bullying and aggression” and that the Chinese should show some decency.
His critic did not engage Gibo in a verbal challenge; it was a written piece, quietly given for him to read. It was Teodoro who made it public to the audience. And what was written on that piece of hotel stationery was China’s public stance on these issues, there is nothing new.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has a sane and sober opinion on the baldness and hollowness of Gibo’s unsound mouthful. She said, “China’s position on the so-called South China Sea arbitration has always been clear. The Philippines unilaterally initiated the case, which is a distortion and abuse of the UNCLOS dispute settlement mechanism. It is the Philippine side who has violated UNCLOS and undermined its integrity and authority.”
“We urge the certain individual of the Philippine side to cut the provocations and theatrics, and stop undermining China-Philippines relations and stability in the South China Sea.”
Well said, Mao Ning.
#OpinYon #WetakeAstand #ViewFromCalumpang