The Philippine defense chief said that China is the biggest disruptor of peace in Southeast Asia
Philippine Says China Is ‘The Biggest Disruptor’ of Peace
The Philippine defense chief said that China is the biggest disruptor of peace in Southeast Asia and called for stronger international censure over its aggression in the South China Sea, a day after China blocked Philippine vessels from delivering food to a Coast Guard ship at the Sabina Shoal.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr spoke at an international military conference organized in Manila by the US Indo-Pacific Command amid a spike in clashes between China and the Philippines in the disputed South China Sea and in its airspace.
China is the biggest disruptor of international peace in Southeast Asia, Teodoro told the conference, which was attended by military officials and senior diplomats from the US and allied countries. In the latest incident in the SCS, Philippine officials said China deployed an excessive force of 40 ships that blocked two Philippine vessels from delivering food and other supplies to Manila’s largest coast guard ship in the disputed Sabina Shoal in the latest flare-up of their territorial disputes in the busy sea passage.
China and the Philippines have separately deployed coast guard ships to Sabina in recent months on suspicion the other may act to take control of and build structures in the fishing atoll. Sabina Shoal lies about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of the Philippine province of Palawan, in the internationally recognized exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
