A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Manila said on April 18 that the 2 sides had agreed to a “latest model” for managing tensions within the Second Thomas Bank earlier this yr, without going into details.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said Saturday that his department is “not aware of or party to any internal agreement with China” since President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr took office in 2022. Defense department officials haven’t spoken to any Chinese officials since then. time last yr, Teodoro said in an announcement.
The Chinese embassy in Manila didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment on Teodoro’s comments outside business hours.
Marcos deepfake calling for military motion against China linked to ‘foreign actor’
Marcos deepfake calling for military motion against China linked to ‘foreign actor’
China claims almost your entire South China Sea, through which greater than $3 trillion in annual ship trade passes. Its claims overlap with those of the Philippines and 4 other countries. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague found that China’s claims had no legal basis, and Beijing rejects the choice.
Teodoro called China’s claims of a bilateral agreement “a part of China’s propaganda,” adding that the Philippines won’t ever enter into any agreement that undermines its claims within the waterways.
“The narrative propagated by anonymous or unidentified Chinese officials is another primitive attempt to spread lies,” he said.
