China is stepping up pressure on the Philippines to concede its sovereign rights in the South China Sea, Manila’s Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday after meeting his Australian counterpart in Canberra.
The fifth such meeting since August 2023 reflects growing security ties between the countries, which have both voiced concern about Chinese activity in areas of the busy waterway claimed by the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations.
“What we see is an increasing demand by Beijing for us to concede our sovereign rights in the area,” Teodoro said after meeting Australian counterpart Richard Marles, adding that the Philippines was a “victim of Chinese aggression”.
The two nations signed a strategic partnership in September 2023 before holding their first joint sea and air patrols in the South China Sea months later. This year, the Philippines also joined war games in Australia for the first time.
In Beijing, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said China took measures to assert its rights after the Philippines “infringed first”.
“If the Philippines no longer infringes and provokes, there will be no more escalation of the maritime situation,” the spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a briefing.
China and the Philippines have sparred repeatedly this year over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, one of Asia’s most contested features.
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History, money and military: why the South China Sea is so important to Beijing
History, money and military: why the South China Sea is so important to Beijing
