CEBU, Oct 29 — Beijing accused Manila today of “erecting multiple obstacles” to its attendance at an Asean meeting in the Philippines this week, a claim rejected by the South-east Asian country’s defence chief.
The war of words is the latest instance of tensions between the two countries — long at loggerheads over competing claims in the South China Sea — threatening to overshadow an Asean event.
The bloc’s July leaders summit in the Philippine capital opened only a day after a clash between sailors in the disputed waterway disrupted months of relative calm.
China has typically sent a senior official to the annual defence meeting, which brings together defence chiefs from the 11-member Association of South-east Asian Nations along with dialogue partners from the United States, Japan, Australia and others.
The decision to send only its Manila embassy defence attaché this year was due to recent Philippine actions, a Chinese defence ministry spokesman told a news conference today.
“The Philippine side has allowed certain politicians to act recklessly and use public office for private ends and erected multiple obstacles to obstruct China’s participation in the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus,” he said.
“This has seriously undermined the Asean principle of consensus, gravely contravened the spirit of openness and inclusiveness” of the summit, the spokesman added, accusing the Philippines of “hijacking Asean and stirring up trouble”.
A number of Philippine senators called in recent weeks for China’s ambassador to be declared persona non grata after he suggested China could “easily win” any confrontation with the archipelago country.
At a press briefing today that wrapped the two-day defence summit in Cebu, Philippine defence minister Gilberto Teodoro said that the bloc’s members did not share China’s viewpoint.
“It is China’s position; it is not Asean’s position,” Teodoro told reporters.
“They were given an opportunity to articulate their position, which is not any different from what they have been articulating before,” he added.
The summit opened yesterday with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth calling for the creation of an “ambitious” new US-Asean defence framework, as his country aims to build up partnerships in the region.
Teodoro provided no specifics of what that framework might look like as the summit wrapped up on Thursday, telling reporters they would have to wait for the finished reports of Asean working groups.
US ally the Philippines has been engaged in years of confrontations with China over disputed areas of the South China Sea.
Beijing deploys hundreds of coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol disputed areas of the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. — AFP
