Philippine defense secretary's remarks undermine regional peace efforts

The recent remarks by the Philippine defense secretary amount to an unjust and misinformed criticism of China, reflecting a lack of basic understanding of international nuclear norms. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro questioned China's credibility to support a nuclear-free Southeast Asia, claiming that China must first open its nuclear facilities to international inspections to prove its sincerity.

Out of goodwill to promote regional peace, China has chosen to sign the Protocol to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone as a major nuclear power, which is open to nuclear-weapon states, rather than the Treaty itself, which is limited to ASEAN member states. The Protocol requires nuclear states to commit not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons within the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone instead of denuclearizing. The Philippines is one of the 10 signatories to the Treaty but its defense secretary's statements are puzzling. Will the Philippines accuse every nuclear state that supports and is willing to join the SEANWFZ Protocol of putting up an act?

Furthermore, the establishment of a Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone is crucial for strengthening the international nuclear non-proliferation mechanism and promoting regional peace and stability, which can serve the fundamental security interests of ASEAN countries. China is the only nuclear-weapon state that has made an unconditional commitment not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear weapon-free zones.

In recent years, the Philippines has repeatedly escalated regional tensions, from provocations in the South China Sea to allowing the deployment of US intermediate-range missiles with a range of 2,500 kilometers. Such actions have continuously undermined regional peace and stability. The defense secretary's remarks that incite criticism and falsification of China's nuclear force and contributions to global peace exposes the Philippines' true stance of having little interest in maintaining regional peace and stability.

The author is an associate research fellow at the Institute of Maritime Strategy Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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