The Philippines remains under “severe threat” from China, its defense minister said on Saturday, despite a recent thaw in US-China tensions after the summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping earlier this month.
Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defense forum, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said it was natural for countries like the United States and China to try to ease tensions because “when they are at parity defense-wise, then there is respect and the capability to adjust because of the depth that both countries have.”
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“For countries like the Philippines, though, which is under severe threat territory-wise and politically too by China, we have no choice but really to be resilient and to stand up against Chinese aggression.”
The Philippines and China have engaged in repeated maritime standoffs in the South China Sea in recent years, as Beijing continues to press expansive claims – largely discredited by a 2016 arbitration ruling - over waters that overlap with rival claimants that also include Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
