Philippine defence chief rebukes China over note passed to him at Seoul defence forum
Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro read aloud a note from a Chinese military attaché rejecting the 2016 South China Sea arbitral award, then rebutted it line by line before delegates at the Seoul Defense Dialogue on 8 September 2026.
- Chinese attaché's note rejecting the 2016 arbitral award was passed to Teodoro mid-panel in Seoul.
- Teodoro read the note aloud and rebutted each claim before delegates.
- He called Beijing's conduct coercion and bullying, and kept the note.
A written message from a Chinese military attaché delivered to the Philippine defence chief during a live panel session turned a routine multilateral forum in Seoul into a public confrontation over the South China Sea.
Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro was speaking at the Seoul Defense Dialogue on Tuesday, 8 September 2026, when a forum staff member walked up and placed a sheet of paper beside him.
Teodoro stopped mid-sentence. He told the room he believed the note had come from China and asked the audience whether he might read it, before doing so aloud.
The note set out Beijing's position that its stance on the South China Sea arbitration was clear, consistent and firm, and that the proceedings violated fundamental principles of international law.
It further asserted that the resulting award carried no binding force and that China neither accepted nor recognised it. The note described the award as illegal, null and void.
How the note reached the stage
According to Yonhap News Agency, citing forum organisers, the note originated from the office of the defence attaché at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, who was present at the event.
The attaché's office asked a forum employee to deliver it. The staff member reportedly believed the message had come from Teodoro's own delegation and passed it to him while he was speaking.
The Seoul Defense Dialogue is hosted by South Korea's Ministry of National Defense. The 2026 edition was held at a hotel in Jung District, central Seoul.
Teodoro was one of several minister-level foreign officials attending that day. He had been addressing maritime challenges facing the Philippines and the importance of compliance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Rebuttal delivered from the stage
Teodoro worked through the note's assertions in sequence. Reading the claim that the arbitration violated international law, he questioned whether the paper was appropriate while he was answering a question from the floor.
Responding to the assertion that the award had no binding force, he said the position followed from an unwillingness to be subject to UNCLOS.
On the statement that China neither accepts nor recognises the ruling, Teodoro replied: "Of course, because you lost."
He then held the note up to the audience and said Beijing had abandoned international norms in pressing its maritime claims.
"This is not a gray zone anymore. This is actual coercion, bullying and aggression," he said.
Switching to Filipino, Teodoro told the Chinese side to show decency and shame, a phrasing widely read in Philippine media as an echo of language used by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The remark drew applause from the audience.
He said he would keep the note as a memento. Addressing the person who had passed it, Teodoro said they had done their country a great service and expressed the hope that they would not suffer in a gulag for it.
The 2016 award
The ruling at the centre of the exchange was issued in July 2016 by an arbitral tribunal constituted under Annex VII of UNCLOS, with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) acting as registry.
The case was brought by the Philippines. The tribunal found that China's expansive claims within the so-called nine-dash line had no legal basis under UNCLOS, and addressed Philippine entitlements within its Exclusive Economic Zone.
China did not participate in the proceedings and has rejected the outcome since it was handed down.
Beijing's response
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Chang, responding to media queries, restated that China's position on the arbitration has been clear, consistent and firm.
Liu said the arbitration contravened principles including state consent and pacta sunt servanda, ran counter to UNCLOS itself, and did not reflect the facts of the South China Sea.
The spokesperson said China urges relevant countries to respect its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea and to stop actions that undermine regional stability.
Context
The incident also prompted questions in South Korean media about how the forum was managed, given that an intervention from one delegation reached the stage through event staff.
Confrontations between Philippine and Chinese officials over the South China Sea have occurred at other multilateral gatherings, including the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
Teodoro said on Monday, 7 September 2026, that Washington had assured Manila that United States commitments under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty remained unchanged.
