Teodoro takes swipe at China with Cold War remarks
Manila, Philippines – The annual military drills between Filipino and American forces have concluded with the Philippine defense chief taking a veiled swipe at China while cheering the “deterrent effect” of the so-called Balikatan exercises.
In his speech during the closing ceremony for the 2025 edition of the joint drills, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. said these were a show of military strength against “any malign actor.”
Beijing had frowned upon the joint drills as soon as they began mid-April, claiming these derail regional stability.
“The best way to make ourselves more resilient is to build strong fences. And these exercises together with exercises with and among our partner and future partner are part of those fence posts that we need to build in order to deter any malign actor from interfering with what international law provides each and every one of us,” Teodoro told his audience of Filipino and American soldiers.
The Balikatan saw missile interceptors, counter-drone weapons systems and warship killers descending from US Air Force C-130 aircraft deployed for the first time in islands in Luzon facing the West Philippine Sea and in the northernmost tip of the country facing Taiwan for test-firing.
“I am very impressed with the deterrent effect of these exercises,” Teodoro said.
The tirades between Teodoro and the Chinese embassy have been protracted amid Beijing’s continued incursions into Philippine waters. At one point, Chinese diplomats had criticized the Philippine defense chief as being stuck in a “Cold War” mindset.
On Friday, Teodoro made a rejoinder.
“If there are criticisms sometimes that we are operating in a Cold War mentality environment, it’s because some actors are acting the same way that they have been during the Cold War and even worse,” he said during his speech, apparently in reference to China.
Teodoro also backed claims that China has been interfering in the May 12 midterm polls after a Senate hearing yielded information about a Makati-based marketing firm being allegedly hired by the Chinese embassy for troll operations.
“Ang Tsina talagang may interes na pakialaman ang eleksyon dito. Obvious na obvious yan. Nasa DNA nila yan,” Teodoro said.
“Pero hindi natin din maililihis ang non-state rogue actors. Yung mga nagraransomware na kumikita nang mali sa paghuhuli ng data,” he added.
[Translation: It is for China’s interest to meddle in our elections. That is very obvious. It is in their DNA. But we cannot deny that there are non-state rogue actors. Those ransomware that make money out of exploiting data.]
