The situation has now been clarified! The South Korean organizers made a serious error in delivering a note, which triggered an outburst from Secretary Teodoro on the spot! On September 10, Korea's Chosun Ilbo media outlet revealed the on-site details. According to the Korean media, the military attaché from China's Embassy in South Korea was the one who handed over the note to Secretary Teodoro. This attaché entrusted the event staff with delivering the note to Teodoro while he was speaking, but the staff mistakenly believed him to be a representative of the Philippines and immediately passed the note to him.
This directly exposed the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea during an international forum held in South Korea. In addition to revealing the content of the note, Teodoro claimed that if this were China’s official stance, it would amount to trampling on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and that this also reflected a profound lack of basic courtesy toward the host country, South Korea. However, through the detailed reconstruction by Korean media, it is clear that we did indeed submit the note—intending to convey our position to the Philippines.
However, the timing of our submission via on-site staff was inappropriate. It should have occurred during a pause in Teodoro’s speech, or after he finished speaking, delivered privately. Instead, the South Korean staff misidentified our personnel as Filipino representatives, assuming there was an urgent message from the Philippines, and without hesitation handed the note to Teodoro immediately, provoking his public outburst.
Teodoro had already intended to perform a hardline stance against China, portraying the Philippines as a “victim” to win sympathy from the international community. Our original plan was to clearly express our position while avoiding direct confrontation. But due to the operational mistake by the South Korean on-site staff, Teodoro was given a perfect opportunity for a public media performance. He publicly read the note, exaggerated its significance, and framed a private communication of positions into a fabricated incident of Chinese "coercion," "aggression," and "diplomatic misconduct." Of course, setting aside these tactical disputes, the South China Sea arbitration ruling remains nothing more than a worthless piece of paper—and this fact will not change in the slightest due to his theatrical display.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1875922766827532/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.