China blames ‘self-serving’ PH politician for scaled-back ASEAN defense presence

MANILA, Philippines — China said on Thursday, October 29, it sent only its Manila-based defense attaché to a top regional defense meeting in Cebu because a “self-serving” Philippine politician had abused the country’s chairship to block its participation.

Stressing that the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) operates on ASEAN’s principle of “consensus through consultation,” the Chinese defense ministry said Manila’s moves violated that rule and undermined Beijing’s “legitimate rights” as a member of the mechanism.

“As the rotating chair of this year’s ADMM-Plus, the Philippine side has allowed a certain self-serving politician to act recklessly and abuse its chairmanship to put up obstacles to China’s participation,” ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang told a press conference in Beijing.

Zhang did not name the politician or describe the obstacles. 

He also said “many ASEAN countries have raised questions and opposition over this,” without identifying any of them.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who chaired this year’s meetings, dismissed that account at a press conference as the two-day gathering in Cebu closed.

“So far as ASEAN is concerned, I do not believe our ASEAN member countries feel that way. If not, they would have let me know,” Teodoro said. “So it is China’s position, it is not ASEAN’s position.” 

China, a dialogue partner rather than an ASEAN member, could be accommodated only “subject to rules and limitations,” he said, and was given the chance to state a position “not any different from what they have been articulating before.”

“No country has the right to characterize ASEAN processes except ASEAN member countries,” Teodoro added. 

China’s envoy this year — a naval officer already in Manila as the defense attaché of the Chinese Embassy — was its lowest-level representation at the ADMM-Plus since the forum began in 2010.   

Teodoro personally welcomed arriving heads of delegation at the Mactan Expo Center in Lapu-Lapu City, including deputy defense ministers from dialogue partners who rank below him.

But it was Defense Undersecretary Ignacio Madriaga who received Senior Captain Yang Lei upon his arrival in Cebu, standing in for Teodoro Jr., a move seen as a tit-for-tat downgrade in protocol. 

Historically, Beijing would send its defense minister to attend the summit, which is also the region’s largest annual gathering of defense chiefs. 

The ADMM-Plus groups ASEAN’s 11 members with eight dialogue partners — Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the United States — and builds on the ADMM, ASEAN’s highest defense consultative body since 2006.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles were among the defense chiefs who attended the meeting in Cebu.

In his remarks, Zhang described the ADMM-Plus as “the highest-level and largest defense and security dialogue and cooperation mechanism in the Asia-Pacific,” one that has served as “an important platform for countries to build trust, strengthen cooperation, and uphold regional peace and stability.”

The Philippine side’s moves, he said, “run counter to the open and inclusive spirit of the ADMM-Plus” and “do not conform to basic diplomatic protocols.”

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