Philippine Defense Chief Dismisses China's Criticism as 'Classic Squid Tactic' Amid Steel Plant Arrests Row

On Saturday, August 15, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro issued a statement answering a charge Beijing had made the day before: that he has "consistently attacked and smeared" China. His reply used a phrase from the sea. The Chinese response, he said, was a "classic squid tactic - disinformation through avoidance," a cloud of ink meant to keep attention away from the actual issues.

The charge came from Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, who spoke to reporters on Friday. Guo said Teodoro had previously led efforts by Philippine authorities to apprehend Chinese citizens whom Beijing maintains were working legally in the Philippines. Of Teodoro, Guo said the damage he does reaches beyond China-Philippines relations to the interests of the Philippine state and its people.

The arrests in question stem from a May law-enforcement operation at a steel facility in Misamis Oriental. Chinese nationals were taken into custody. Teodoro's statement defended the raid as lawful and said it rested on evidence gathered under court-issued search warrants. He listed the violations he says were found: production of substandard steel that was radioactively tainted, the dumping of polluted water, and the release of toxic emissions.

He went further, accusing officials at the Chinese embassy of intervening in Philippine law-enforcement processes and threatening retaliation against Filipinos. He said a Senate hearing had brought such actions to light.

The exchange sits on top of a second dispute that runs in the opposite direction. On August 10, China confirmed that its immigration authorities had taken action against more than 100 Philippine nationals for illegally working or living in China. Beijing said the operations were lawful and that immigration officials acted in a "standard and civil manner" while protecting the rights of those involved.

Teodoro did not accept that framing. In a statement on August 13, he condemned the action against the Filipinos, calling it "plain and simple extortion and blackmail." Read together, the statements describe two sets of detentions, each government calling its own lawful and the other's coercive.

The people at the center are on both sides: Chinese nationals arrested after the May steel plant operation, and the more than 100 Filipinos China says it acted against. Neither government's statements, as reported, say what has happened to them since, or what charges or penalties they face.

What the record shows so far is a sequence of public statements rather than any negotiated step. Manila points to warrants, alleged environmental and safety violations, and testimony in the Senate. Beijing points to the legality of its own immigration enforcement and to Teodoro personally. Whether either side moves beyond rhetoric, and what becomes of those detained, is the thing to watch next.