Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro has gone viral after forcefully rejecting China's arguments against the 2016 South China Sea arbitral ruling during a major international security forum in Seoul. In doing so, Teodoro has turned an unexpected on-stage ambush into a wider debate over international law, coercion and China’s repeated undermining of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). At the same time, Beijing continues to promote its own vision of regional maritime governance, hosting coast guard officials from across the Indo-Pacific at conference in Hangzhou. As tensions deepen in the South China Sea, how should Manila and other regional capitals respond to China’s attempts to shift the status quo? In this episode, we examine Teodoro's response, China's competing legal narrative, and what the clash reveals about the future of the South China Sea, Taiwan and the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.
*Recorded on September 10, 2026 at 4pm Taiwan Standard Time
Host/Senior Producer: Yin Khvat
Planner: Miguel Yang
Research Assistant: Ryan Pham
Videographer: Celest Kao
Our guests:
Jay Tarriela
- Philippine Coast Guard Rear Admiral and West Philippine Sea Spokesperson
Alexander Huang
- Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies Chair
Chong Ja Ian
- National University of Singapore Department of Political Science Associate Professor
Alessio Patalano
- King’s College London Professor of War and Strategy in East Asia
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