China hotline risks security

Communication lines with China were cut three years ago, not recently, as Chinese rhetoric and narratives claim, Department of National Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said on Wednesday.

In a virtual press briefing with the Defense Press Corps, Teodoro said maintaining military-to-military communications with China then and now has compromised the country’s security.

“First, our security has been compromised. Second, China takes advantage of us whenever we open channels of communication with them. Third, they twist the narrative. Fourth, what is the basis for reopening these channels of communication?”

These issues need to be established. But let me reiterate: if diplomatic communication channels already exist at the highest level, why are you complaining? Why are you so eager to open military-to-military channels? What is your intention?

Outlook not similar

Teodoro indicated, “We have no joint operations. We have no Status of Visiting Forces Agreement. We have no common position on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), nor do we share the same outlook.”

“Why, then, do you want to open military-to-military channels? They will say it is for de-escalation. But who is escalating tensions? They are.

“This is merely their propaganda, portraying the opening of military-to-military channels as a positive development. In reality, it is a propaganda tool that they can twist and use in ways that could put us in an unfavorable position,” Teodoro explained.

The Defense Chief said the military-to-military ties can be restored only if China shows its sincerity.

“I mean, all their actions now, from their messaging to the messaging of their assertion of undisputed sovereignty and jurisdiction over areas where they have no rights to do so, they must turn back from that because there is no basis whatsoever in international law and in UNCLOS,” Teodoro said.