In the slow accounting of a long maritime quarrel, Manila has answered Beijing's claim of a secret understanding over Ayungin Shoal with a plain denial: no such arrangement was known to its defense department, no contact with Chinese officials has been made since last year, and no deal will be signed that surrenders Philippine sovereign rights. The moment unfolds in the South China Sea, where a submerged reef carries outsized weight, while navies drill nearby during the Balikatan exercise. It belongs to a familiar human pattern of competing stories over disputed ground, in which the question o
Manila Rejects Claimed Ayungin Shoal Deal with Beijing, Calls It Chinese Propaganda
Neither aware of, nor a party to, any such arrangement
Mark
What exactly did Teodoro deny?
Mimi
Any internal agreement with China on Ayungin Shoal since Marcos took office. He also said the defense department has had no contact with Chinese government officials since last year.
Mark
And China's claim was what, specifically?
Mimi
That there were two new deals in 2023 to reduce tensions at the shoal.
Luke
Worth noting that we only have Manila's side here. The Chinese claim is described secondhand, and the article doesn't quote any Chinese official directly.
Mark
Why did the officials bring up Duterte?
Mimi
Gonzales addressed the idea of a gentlemen's agreement between Duterte and Xi. His point was that, if it existed, it would be constitutionally void without a treaty and Senate ratification.
Luke
Careful, though. He said 'if any.' Nobody in the report confirms such an agreement existed.
Mark
Does the shadowing ship connect to the denial?
Mimi
The report places them on the same day, but doesn't link them. A PLAN vessel, bow number 793, was seen near the Balikatan flotilla.
Luke
Right. Timing isn't causation. And what Ano asked for, evidence from Beijing, hasn't been answered in this report.
O Pulso
- The Philippines flatly denies a 2023 understanding with China, and the rejection lands like a gauntlet thrown on contested water.
- Defense Secretary Teodoro brands Beijing's claims propaganda and pins the real tension on China's refusal to honor UNCLOS.
- Presidential adviser Ano demands that Beijing produce evidence, turning the dispute into a test of what can actually be shown.
- Naval drills off Palawan carry on as a Chinese PLAN vessel shadows the flotilla, keeping the pressure visible.
- Attention now turns to whether Beijing offers proof, and whether the Balikatan exercise, due to end April 29, remains untouched by the dispute.
In the slow accounting of a long maritime quarrel, Manila has answered Beijing's claim of a secret understanding over Ayungin Shoal with a plain denial: no such arrangement was known to its defense department, no contact with Chinese officials has been made since last year, and no deal will be signed that surrenders Philippine sovereign rights. The moment unfolds in the South China Sea, where a submerged reef carries outsized weight, while navies drill nearby during the Balikatan exercise. It belongs to a familiar human pattern of competing stories over disputed ground, in which the question of who holds the right is answered less by claims than by the documents that give them force.
On Saturday, the Philippines' Department of National Defense stated plainly that it had reached no internal agreement with China over Ayungin Shoal. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said the department knew of no such arrangement and had not been party to one since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office. His words answered Chinese officials who claimed that Manila and Beijing had agreed on two new understandings in 2023 to ease tensions at the reef in the Spratly Islands.
Teodoro went further, calling the Chinese claims a propaganda effort to draw Filipino attention away from what he called the real source of friction: China's refusal to follow the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Manila, he said, would never sign anything that compromised its sovereign rights under that convention and the 2016 arbitral ruling. Other officials joined in. National security adviser Eduardo Ano asked Beijing to show its evidence, and a House deputy majority leader noted that any gentlemen's agreement between former president Rodrigo Duterte and Xi Jinping would be constitutionally void without Senate ratification.
The words arrived as the waters off Palawan hosted joint naval work. Friday's maritime exercise, part of the 39th Balikatan, brought together Philippine, French and American ships, with the BRP Ramon Alcaraz directing the formation. On Saturday the Western Command reported a Chinese navy vessel shadowing the flotilla. The exercise continues until April 29, and the open question is whether Beijing will produce the documents it claims exist.
On Saturday, the Philippines' Department of National Defense put out a statement flatly denying that it had struck any internal agreement with China over Ayungin Shoal. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. was quoted by the Philippine News Agency saying the department is neither aware of nor a party to any such arrangement since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office.
The denial answers claims from Chinese officials that Manila and Beijing reached two new understandings in 2023 meant to lower tensions at the shoal. Ayungin is a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, known in the Philippines as part of the West Philippine Sea. Teodoro said the defense department has had no contact with any Chinese government officials since last year.
Teodoro called the Chinese claims part of a propaganda effort to pull Filipinos' attention away from what he described as the real cause of tension: China's stubborn refusal to follow the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Beijing has signed. The source notes that UNCLOS recognizes Philippine jurisdiction in the area. He added that Manila will never enter an agreement that compromises its sovereignty and sovereign rights under UNCLOS, as affirmed by the 2016 arbitral ruling.
Other Philippine officials had already pushed back. National security adviser Eduardo Ano said Beijing should show evidence of the supposed deal to preserve the status quo in the West Philippine Sea. Neptali Gonzales II, deputy majority leader of the House of Representatives, addressed a different possibility: a gentlemen's agreement between former president Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping. If one existed, he said, it would be constitutionally void, because such a commitment would have to be written into a treaty and ratified by the Senate before taking effect.
The statements came during joint naval activity. On Saturday, the military's Western Command said a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy vessel, bow number 793, was spotted shadowing the flotilla taking part in the maritime exercise of the 39th Balikatan exercise. Command spokesperson Captain Ariel Joseph Coloma told reporters one PLAN vessel was in the vicinity.
The maritime exercise took place Friday in the waters off Palawan. It was led by the BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16), with the French Navy's FS Vendemiaire (FFH-734), the BRP Davao del Sur (LD-602) and the USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) participating. Lt. Col. John Paul Salgado, chief of the Combined Joint Information Bureau, said the Alcaraz directed the other ships by tactical messages to approach her port side no closer than 80 yards. Davao del Sur went first, then Vendemiaire, then Harpers Ferry.
A cross-deck landing exercise continued, involving the Alcaraz, Davao del Sur, Harpers Ferry and a Philippine Navy AW-109 helicopter (NH-434). Balikatan is meant to improve the interoperability of the participating navies and is scheduled to end April 29. What to watch next is whether Beijing produces any evidence of the 2023 arrangements it describes.
Citações Notáveis
The DND is not aware of, nor is it a party to, any internal agreement with China on Ayungin Shoal since President Marcos took office.— Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
Beijing must show evidence of the alleged deal to keep the status quo in the West Philippine Sea.— National security adviser Eduardo Ano (paraphrased)
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