The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said China’s past assistance to the Philippines, including vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, does not give Beijing the right to violate the country’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.
Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, made the statement after the Chinese Embassy in Manila criticized Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. for questioning Beijing’s gestures of assistance while warning that the Philippines remains under serious threat from China.
“Filipinos are a grateful people. We do not forget genuine help, and we say salamat when thanks is due,” Tarriela said in a post on Facebook and X.
“But gratitude is not a price tag on our sovereignty. No vaccine, no shipment of fertilizer, and no infrastructure project buys the right to violate our rights in the West Philippine Sea, to harass our fishermen, or to aim water cannons and military-grade lasers at our Coast Guard vessels,” he added.
The exchange stemmed from Teodoro’s statement last week that the Philippines remains under “severe threat” from China. He said the government’s policy toward Beijing is focused on building resilience, including upgrading military infrastructure, and should not be affected by reports that China offered fertilizer and fuel assistance amid shortages linked to the Middle East conflict.
Teodoro said China’s assistance, no matter how it is “sugarcoated,” “doesn’t cut the mustard” and is “actually guileful.”
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng responded by calling Teodoro’s statement a “typical case of biting the hand that feeds you.” He cited China’s assistance to the Philippines, including COVID-19 vaccines, fertilizer donations, major infrastructure projects, and disaster relief.
Ji also likened Teodoro’s remarks to “The Farmer and the Snake,” and accused the defense chief of showing “no regard for the welfare of the Philippine people” and “no sense of gratitude.”
Tarriela rejected the criticism and said he stood “fully behind” Teodoro.
“He did not ‘bite the hand that feeds,’” Tarriela said. “He simply refused to let that hand cover our eyes while the other hand takes what is ours under UNCLOS and the 2016 Arbitral Award.”
The 2016 Arbitral Award invalidated China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea and affirmed the Philippines’ sovereign rights within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
Tarriela said questioning China’s long-term intentions should not be mistaken for ingratitude.
“To question whether long-term good faith exists is not ingratitude, it is honesty,” he said.
He added that aid loses its meaning when it is later used to demand silence.
“If assistance is given only so it can later be waved in our faces to demand our silence, then it was never kindness to begin with. It was leverage,” Tarriela said.
The PCG official said China is welcome to be a true friend of the Philippines, but friendship cannot come at the cost of the country’s sovereignty and sovereign rights.
“A true friend does not ask you to surrender your sovereignty and sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea as the price of friendship,” Tarriela said.