China’s aggressiveness in the In
do-Pacific is rooted in long-standing strategic ambitions independent of any U.S. policy, and the region’s challenges stem from Beijing’s own expansionist agenda, the Philippines’ top defence official said on Wednesday.
The Philippines and China have had a series of run-ins and heated exchanges in the busy waterway of the South China Sea over the past two years, including an incident in June last year when a Philippine sailor lost a finger.
“The aggressiveness of China has been several years in the making,” Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said in an interview at the Reuters NEXT Asia summit in Singapore.
“China’s design for the region does not depend on any American leader,” Teodoro said, replying to a query whether U.S. President Donald Trump’s style and stance had served as a catalyst for China’s actions.
“It depends on its own plan of action in the region, its own expansionist activities, its own need to control the area.”
While acknowledging that U.S. policies influence regional dynamics, Teodoro said China’s actions were “pre-determined” by its leadership, regardless of who was in power in Washington.
Despite rising tension in the major regional flashpoint of the South China Sea, Teodoro dismissed fears that conflict was on the horizon.
“The prospect of war is not imminent,” he added. “I believe it is remote, but that would entirely depend upon the internal conditions of China.”
China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, despite overlapping claims by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.
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