China Slips Propaganda Note to Philippines Defense Chief; He Reads It Aloud and Scorches Beijing

China tried a power move on Philippines Secretary of Defense Gilberto C. Teodoro as he was giving a speech at the Seoul Defense Dialog 2026 symposium (the theme was prophetically titled “Toward a New Coexistence in the Age of Turbulence”) on Tuesday. It didn’t play out the way the Temu Machiavelli who dreamed up the stunt had planned.

The Seoul Defense Dialog has been around since 2012 and focuses on themes of non-proliferation, cyber security, and defense management. Although it became a “ministerial” level conference in 2023, it is primarily attended by second-tier, or lower, powers.

Secretary Teodoro took questions from the floor about Chinese gray-zone tactics and its use of coercion in the South China Sea. 

“…in international law, unfortunately,” says Teodoro. Then a white-coated staffer, who has been identified as a “Chinese military attache” though I can’t verify the accuracy of that statement,

 approached Teodoro from behind and left a sheet of paper on the lectern.

Just like is…just like…I have a note here, I think this is from China,” Teodoro said, stopping in the middle of his remarks.

You should have joined the…and may I read it?

Reading from the paper, he said, “China’s position on the South China Sea arbitration is clear, consistent and firm. They have no position. The arbitration violates fundamental principles of international law.”

🤦‍♂️ If this kind of thin-skinned jingoistic 🇨🇳 wolf-warrior crap wasn’t so on-brand you could be forgiven for thinking it was all a set-up.

Truly, who could have thought it was a winning plan to deliver the 🇵🇭#Philippines‘ defense secretary — a man well known for his media savvy… https://t.co/nREmbrPwfN pic.twitter.com/g7eUIsi4n3

— Ray Powell (@GordianKnotRay) September 8, 2026

If this kind of thin-skinned jingoistic wolf-warrior crap wasn’t so on-brand you could be forgiven for thinking it was all a set-up. 

Truly, who could have thought it was a winning plan to deliver the #Philippines‘ defense secretary — a man well known for his media savvy & devastating critiques of #China — a propagandistic screed hand-written on hotel stationary, at the very time when he had the mic all to himself?  

A screed, I should note, that contained nothing but the same boring & tired #SouthChinaSea talking points we’ve all heard a million times.

China was referring to the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award. In 2013, the Philippines brought an arbitration claim to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over China’s systematic violations of the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone. China refused to recognize the proceeding. On July 12, 2016 it issued a unanimous award (this was before China had set about buying European leaders and nations) ruling that 1) China had no unique “historic rights” inside the so-called Nine-Dash Line, 2) the Spratly Islands nor Scarborough Shoal is an island as defined by UNCLOS, 3) Mischief Reef and Second Thomas Shoal are part of the Philippine continental shelf and therefore in its Exclusive Economic Zone, and 4) China had systematically violated the sovereign rights of the Philippines in taking fish and natural resources from the Philippines EEZ.

BACKGROUND:

Obama’s Weakness Encourages Chinese Aggression – RedState

U.S.-China Strategic Competition in South and East China Seas – RedState

Since then we’ve seen video of Chinese ships attempting to ram Philippine ships inside the Phillipines EEZ.

Look at this.

China sent a whole armada of Coast Guard ships and militia boats to chase down one tiny wooden Filipino fishing boat… inside the Philippines’ own waters

This is how China operates in the South China Sea. Pure bullying. And it’s only getting uglier. pic.twitter.com/bHHfPIzg0i

— Dr. Minh Tran (@MinhDr18) August 23, 2026

100 Chinese maritime militia ships
cordoning off the Whitson Reef in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines, blocking access to Filipino fishermen who have been working there for decades.

China is again about to seize foreign territory in the SCS pic.twitter.com/L6PCpGHM3U

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) December 9, 2023

CHINA COAST GUARD STRIKES PHILIPPINE NAVY

WATCH: A video taken by the Armed Forces of the Philippines shows China Coast Guard personnel aboard a rigid hull inflatable boat striking Philippine Navy personnel on a rubber boat with wooden batons during an incident at Ayungin Shoal,… pic.twitter.com/BrsVTUS1VC

— GMA News (@gmanews) July 20, 2026

Though brutal and vicious, Chinese boat-handling skills need another century or so of work to meet international norms.

A China Coast Guard ship barreled into a Chinese navy destroyer on Monday as the two vessels chased a Philippine coast guard ship in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. https://t.co/ROMVN3GCLG pic.twitter.com/OyRXPyI6rB

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 11, 2025

Then he unloaded.

So what you mean, UNCLOS, you mean violates international law.

Here, Teodoro is referring to the fact that China ratified UNCLOS on the very first day it was possible to do so, but refused to participate in the arbitration on the grounds that the treaty tribunal lacked jurisdiction and that the dispute was about sovereignty over land features, not a maritime question. This is quintessential ChiCom behavior. Join international organizations, use them to bully other countries and extract advantage, and then refuse to abide by the rules you agreed to when you don’t like the outcome.

“That’s what you mean. ‘The so-called award was illegal, null and void.’ So say you. ‘And has no binding force.’ Because you don’t want to be subjected to UNCLOS. ‘China neither accepts nor recognizes the award.’ Of course, because you lost. ‘And opposes it and will never accept any claim arising from it.’

After reading the part of the note, Teodoro turned to the crowd and said: 

“These are words slipped to me. There is a legal principle called res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself. How can you deal with a country in an international forum — beyond the question asked to me — disrespecting the organizers of this forum, how do you expect to deal with it civilly?”

“I ask you the question, is this the right paper to post to me when I’m being asked a question on the floor? And how will you treat this kind of behavior? It not only disrespects, shows, if this is a Chinese position sent to me, it not only disrespects international law, throwing UNCLOS to the floor and trampling upon it, but it also disrespects the basic decency accorded that should be accorded to our most gracious host, the Republic of Korea and the rest of the audience here. So, perhaps basic decency and behavior is what China needs to do.”

Applause.

“Now…thank you very much.”

He then said something in Tagalog and invited the audience to translate it themselves. I first assumed he’d rather not have “kiss my patootie” appear in the official transcript, but he actually said something that probably hurt the Chinese more, “”Show a little decency, have a little shame.” 

“Now to go back to the question, we need to coalesce and secondly, this is not “gray zone” anymore. This is . This is actual coercion, bullying and aggression. I will keep this paper as a memento of how desperate China is and how ineffective its position is in the face of a free audience.” 

Attendees were amazed.

Remarkable. Never heard a Southeast Asian diplomat lay into China like this. The Trump admin should back him up on every single word.

Clarity. Teodoro says that China is no longer in the gray zone; it’s outrightly coercing of its neighbors.

Candor: He accuses China of being… https://t.co/gyEErcJ5gP

— Michael Sobolik (@michaelsobolik) September 8, 2026

Remarkable. Never heard a Southeast Asian diplomat lay into China like this. The Trump admin should back him up on every single word. 

Clarity. Teodoro says that China is no longer in the gray zone; it’s outrightly coercing of its neighbors. 

Candor: He accuses China of being desperate. That’s the devastating part of his remarks. Beijing always wants to project strength, but its coercion stems from deep insecurity. Teodoro is exactly correct. 

Response: the audience applauded Teodoro when he concluded. Clarity and candor are stabilizing in international politics, not destabilizing.

For those still being in denial about global geopolitics and believing that China is going to be the good global cop, think twice. https://t.co/thh6pUEpTv

— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) September 8, 2026

Extraordinary video of Philippines Defense Minister publicly handed a note during the Seoul Defense Dialogue by a Chinese delegate—and then disparages the Chinese argument live as he reads it. https://t.co/6aFPAgkOBC

— Nick Schifrin (@nickschifrin) September 9, 2026

Then he seemed to address the Chinese stooge who’d sent him the note.

“Thank you very much for the person who gave me this piece of paper. You have just done your country a great service. Thank you, and I hope you don’t suffer in a gulag for it.”

He summed up, saying, “I think it is well known to the public, to everyone here, about the Philippine situation where we face challenges daily from the People’s Republic of China which tries to occupy and illegally assert its presence over our territory and especially our exclusive economic zone. In contravention of the UNCLOS. We live in a very interconnected world, and there is no right for any state of that matter to appropriate an international common for its exclusive use or right, contrary to what the international norms clearly state. So the Philippines has been forced to enter into creative defense arrangements and alliances.” The remarks do not appear on the video.

I’ve had a lot of questions about the sincerity of the Trump administration’s “pivot to China” policy. Specifically, is the policy really a pivot to China, or a pivot away from engagement in the affairs of Europe, Asia, and Africa? Why? First and foremost, the fuel depot that supplied our forces in the Western Pacific at Red Hill, Hawaii, has been closed, and it has not been reconstituted elsewhere. Given the closure of several refineries in California, the U.S. Navy in the Pacific would have to be fueled via interstate pipeline. I don’t see a surge in shipbuilding. Currently, we have to hire tankers to refuel our ships at sea; that won’t work in wartime. I don’t see an increase in the U.S. Merchant Marine to support our fleet. Guam isn’t adequately fortified. The Northern Marianas are a playground for Chinese intelligence. China continues to buy small island nations like they were part of a Kmart Blue Light Special. The fact that no action was taken to replenish missile stocks until the Iran conflict made it necessary strikes me as either boneheaded beyond belief or, alternatively, there was no actual strategic focus on China. I still believe the administration suffers from the misapprehension that it can woo Russia from China’s orbit and forge an alliance with Putin to do heaven knows what. Those doubts still remain.

That said, Teodoro having the massive cojones to call out China as an international scofflaw and bad actor indicates he believes he has someone to back him up. The only possible “someone” is the United States.

Giving China a good butt-kicking before an international audience was an act of courage, and we owe Secretary Teodoro a vote of thanks.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America’s military.

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