‘This charade must stop:’ DND denies backing ‘new model’ with China

In a statement on Sunday, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said that the DND was never a party to any deal struck between the Chinese embassy and the Philippine government that justifies the illegal presence of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

“I would like to clearly state that any insinuation that the Department of National Defense is a party to any ‘new model’ is a devious machination of China through their Embassy in Manila, and it is curious that it comes right after their actions were condemned in the recent SQUAD meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii,” Teodoro said.

This comes after the Chinese Embassy claimed on Saturday that Beijing and Manila have come to a “consensus… to deescalate tensions in the South China Sea” through a new model approved by the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The Chinese Embassy said that the supposed “gentlemen’s agreement” or the “new model” was meant to be a confidence-building measure to avoid conflicts and had “nothing to do with each country’s sovereign positions.” However, the embassy did not state whether the agreement acknowledged the 2016 Hague ruling that favored the Philippines and invalidated China’s sweeping claims in nearly all of South China Sea.

The embassy said that the AFP WESCOM “made repeated confirmation that the ‘new model’ has been approved by all key officials in the Philippine chain of command,” including the DND secretary and the National Security Adviser.

Rebuffing China, Teodoro said that he had barred all contact between teh DND and the Chinese Embassy since the courtesy call of Ambassador Huang Xilian since July 2023.

“During the said courtesy call, there was no discussion or briefing on any “gentleman’s agreement” or “new model”, which is contrary to the Chinese Embassy’s pronouncements,” Teodoro said.

“This charade must stop,” the DND chief added.

‘Pathetic desperation’

On Sunday, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año similarly rebuffed the Chinese embassy’s claims of a “new model,” describing the statements of the embassy as “absolutely absurd, ludicrous and preposterous.”

“No one in the Philippine government is, nor have been, empowered nor authorized to enter into or commit to any sort of agreement, understanding, or arrangement – more so informal ones, by our President,” Año said.

Año added that the “timing” of the Chinese Embassy’s claim of a “new model” is meant to distrct from the “bigger story of the piling of dead corral ruble in Pag-Asa Cays 1,2,3.”

Scientists from the University of the Philippines Institute of Biology on Saturday released a study that found the marine life in Sandy Cay in the West Philippine Sea is already in a “degraded state.”

The deterioration of the marine life in the Sandy Cay is traced to the pile of sand and rubble dumped on Pag-asa Cays 1, 2, 3, which have the characteristics “atypical of naturally foremd coral or sandy barrier islands,” the study found.

China’s island-building activities, which the Philippines has protested repeatedly, were mentioned as a possible cause, with “some degree of uncertainty.”

“This is the bigger story that they want to dislodge from the headlines and deflect attention from. It has truly reached a new low of pathetic desperation,” Año said.