Philippines defense alliances counter China’s hegemony – Gibo

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ forging alliances with friendly states – including its Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) with five countries – has made an impact on the situation in the South China Sea, because it has unmasked China’s “hegemonic” intentions, according to Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr.

“Definitely, it has an impact… and it serves also to unearth, to put to light what the true intentions of China are,” Teodoro told reporters in a chance interview following the signing of the SOVFA with Canada in Makati on Sunday.

“They’re interfering even in the Baltics, in Australia and New Zealand, even in Pacific Islands up to South America. Now who’s hegemonic? Who wants to expand its reach across the globe? It’s China,” Teodoro said in Filipino.

He said what the Philippines wants is simply for China to leave the West Philippine Sea.

He scored Beijing for engaging in “rhetoric” to defend its illegal claims in the West Philippine Sea.

The SOVFA with the Philippines, the first of its kind that Canada entered into with a nation in the Indo-Pacific, was signed by Teodoro and Canadian Minister of National Defense David McGuinty.

Teodoro also slammed China’s Defense Ministry for claiming that the Philippines is blackmailing China.

“How can you have a conversation when the day before the ADMM, the Ministry of Defense of China came out with a statement that we have to mend our ways and or suffer the consequences and that the Philippines is blackmailing China,” Teodoro said.

“Would you talk to or would you offer to talk to somebody who slammed your country that way? Of course not,” he added.

“They would say they want engagement and they’re good and then they would act that way. That’s a slap in the face and that’s unacceptable as I’ve told the ADMM Plus,” Teodoro said. ADMM stands for ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting.

“President Xi Jinping during APEC said we must resist unilateral bullying. Bakit pag tayo ang nagre-resist ayaw nila (But why do they object if we’re the ones resisting)?”

He said he would have wanted to talk to the Chinese “if there was a semblance of good faith” and “sincerity.”

The defense ministers meeting took place in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend. It was also attended by US Secretary of War Peter Hegseth, Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles and Japanese Minister of Defense Koizumi Shinjiro.

“The ministers and secretaries reiterated their serious concern regarding China’s destabilizing actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and their strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion,” the Joint Readout of the meeting stated.

‘Pull out Typhon’

Militant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), meanwhile, is calling for the immediate pullout of the US Army’s Typhon missile system from Northern Luzon.

The missile’s presence, KMP said, is a violation of Philippine sovereignty and a serious threat to peace in the region. It also described the deployment as a “dangerous sign of foreign military control.”

The Typhon missile system was first brought to the Philippines during the Salaknib joint military exercises in April 2024. Although it was supposed to be a temporary setup for training, the missiles have reportedly remained in the country.

The left-leaning peasant group also criticized the use of Laoag Airport in Ilocos Norte – a civilian area not included in the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement sites – as the initial base for the missiles.

The KMP warned this makes the Philippines a possible target in case of conflict between the US and China. The group said such a situation puts the country’s people in danger.