The defense secretary of the Philippines said that ASEAN cannot continue to ignore what China is doing in the South China Sea if it wants to be 'relevant and credible'.
One of the demands of Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.—if the demands come true—is to have a resolution from the United Nations Security Council that would hold China accountable for its aggressive actions in the South China Sea and “curse China and order it to stop.”
But Teodoro, a veteran politician and two-time defense secretary, quickly turned his dreams into reality.
"Of course, if I could ask for three things, one would be to have a security council or resolution condemning China and ordering it to stop. But the world is not that perfect," said the defense secretary of the Philippines on Tuesday, August 27, on the sidelines of the United States Indo-Pacific Command's International Military Law and Operations (MILOPS) conference in Manila.
Teodoro, who has expert oversight of the Philippine military, asked defense and security experts to consider the dynamism of responding to a power like China and its aggressive expansion in the South China Sea.
