Jing row revives Chinese grid fears

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Thursday aired a strong suspicion that Filipino enablers were helping Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan escalate a diplomatic war, even as questions persisted over Beijing’s influence over the Philippines’ power grid, where a Chinese state-owned company holds a 40-percent stake.

Teodoro said certain groups and individuals may be emboldening Jing, helping Beijing to weaken the public resistance to Chinese aggression and driving a wedge among Filipinos in what one military official described to DAILY TRIBUNE as “a divide-and-conquer tactic.”

China, through Jing, “is clearly provoking us, or perhaps he actually wants that to happen because they have a plan in mind. It’s as if he is rage-baiting us,” Teodoro said in a radio interview.

“This is not unique to the Philippines. Other ambassadors do the same thing in other countries with democratic systems of government. But I believe what emboldens them is that they also have facilitators and political supporters. We cannot deny that,” he said.

Teodoro did not name the alleged facilitators.

His remarks came as Jing and the Chinese Embassy moved beyond defending Beijing’s position to openly taunting Filipino officials and lawmakers who criticized the ambassador.

The controversy began on 15 October when Jing, responding to Teodoro’s description of China as a “regional troublemaker,’ said Beijing could “easily win” if it used force against the Philippines, before insisting that China preferred peace.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the remark sounded like a threat and the Department of Foreign Affairs summoned Jing, calling his statement “provocative and unacceptable.”

Stood our ground

The embassy’s subsequent social media posts advised the lawmakers threatening to declare Jing persona non grata to “STOP BLUFFING.” The posts were also critical of Sen. Panfilo Lacson and Bicol Saro Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon, and described Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan’s demand that Marcos send Jing home as “thuggish, hooligan-style.”

Teodoro said the exchanges served a larger purpose: to divide Filipinos while Manila was asserting its maritime rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

“They did it during President (Noynoy) Aquino’s time, but not to this extent. Only now have we firmly stood our ground,” he said.

China’s role in power transmission

The dispute has also revived scrutiny of Chinese involvement in critical Philippine infrastructure.

China’s State Grid Corp. holds 40 percent of the company that runs the country’s electricity transmission network; Filipino interests own the remaining 60 percent.

Although the structure complies with the constitutional limit on foreign ownership, critics say Beijing’s potential control over the grid is worrisome.

“China may well need only throw a switch to bring the Philippines back to the dark ages,” a political analyst told the TRIBUNE in advance of a piece he said he would write about the possibility.

“That may be what Jing was talking about — of China not needing to resort to war to defeat us,” he said.

In 2025, a House inquiry raised questions about who exercised effective control over the power grid, with Rep. Gerville Luistro citing company documents identifying Chinese nationals in senior positions, including the board chairmanship and technical leadership.

Name names

She warned that foreign participation in strategic local posts could undermine the intent of the constitutional safeguards. Then Representative Ace Barbers also sought to look over the grid shareholders’ agreement to determine the extent of foreign influence over its management.

Meanwhile, the identity of the alleged Filipino enablers remained an open question.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s rapprochement with Beijing provides political context, but that history alone does not establish that he or his family, including Vice President Sara Duterte, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, are facilitating China’s campaign.

Carlos picks side

Former National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos has defended Jing’s remarks as non-threatening and launched a profanity-laced attack on Teodoro and Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the WPS Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela, calling the latter a “troublemaker” and telling him to “shut the f*** up.”

In a Wednesday TV interview, she argued that officials such as Teodoro and Tarriela should not publicly weigh in on foreign policy, which she said is the job of Marcos and Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro.

Tarriela responds

Tarriela fired back, questioning why Carlos appeared angrier at him than at China. “My parents taught me not to speak ill of my elders. But since grandma is already cursing, let me respond,” he said in a social media post.

He questioned Carlos’s record, saying her statements showed why her tenure as national security adviser at the beginning of the Maros Jr. administration did not last a year.

He said the government’s transparency initiative on Chinese activities in the WPS began only after she was replaced by former Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Año.