‘Sampal sa mukha’: Teodoro says China talk OK — if they show sincerity 

'Would you offer to talk to somebody who slammed your country that way?' says the Philippine defense chief

MANILA, Philippines — No efforts were made, especially from the Philippine side, to organize a bilateral meeting between Philippine and Chinese defense ministers on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Why not? It’s hard to talk to someone who’s “insincere,” said Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr.

“I would be willing to talk if there was a semblance of good faith. Kung nagpakita ng sinseridad, kakausapin ko, bakit hindi? Pero kakausapin mo na the day before, sinabi, binablackmail natin ang China? Pagkatapos, magbago daw tayo…mend your ways…. Sampal sa mukha ‘yun, kaya ‘di ko tatanggapin,” Teodoro told reporters on Sunday, November 2, after signing a Status of the Visiting Forces Agreement with Canada in Manila.

(If they show sincerity, I would talk to them, why not? But to talk to them when the day before, they said we’re blackmailing Chiina? Then they said, we need to change…mend your ways…. That’s a slap on the face, so I won’t accept it.)

As Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty was signing the defense department’s guestbook on Sunday, Teodoro was asked by reporters if he had met with his Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun.

Teodoro dryly answered back — why would he?

Teodoro had spent over three days in Kuala Lumpur to meet with fellow defense officials from Southeast Asia and the bloc’s dialogue partners. While in Malaysia, Teodoro met with several counterparts including US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Dong was not in his schedule.

“If course it is important” Teodoro said, when asked if defense ministers should continue talking despite tensions between China and the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea.

“But how can you have a conversation when the day before the ADMM, the Ministry of Defense of China came out with a statement that we have to mend our ways or suffer the consequences and that the Philippines is blackmailing China? Would you talk to, or would you offer to talk to somebody who slammed your country that way? Of course not,” he said.

On October 30, Chinese defense spokesperson Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang warned China “would never allow any provocation and trouble-making to work, nor would we leave any room for blackmailing the big by the small.”

Beijing was reacting to the Philippines’ deployment of aircraft and vessels to features in the West Philippine Sea, or an area within the South China Sea that includes the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and claimed territories. China claims almost all of the South China Sea. – Rappler.com