MANILA – Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. rejected China’s calls for the removal of the BRP Sierra Madre (LS-57) from Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

“They have no right to say that. So, it is beyond their jurisdiction and beyond any form of intervention under international law,” Teodoro said in a press briefing during the second day of the ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Disaster Resilience at Conrad Hotel in Pasay City.

Teodoro was responding to China’s recent calls to remove the Filipino naval vessel, amid Beijing’s accusations that the Philippines is attempting to conduct large-scale repairs and reinforcement of the BRP Sierra Madre to establish permanent occupation of the shoal.

The DND chief said he was not inclined to give China’s narrative importance, maintaining that Beijing had no reason to comment on Philippine actions.

“As the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) has repeatedly said, and their narrative of whatever sha-sha-sha and tau-tau-tau, which the world doesn’t recognize, together with their nine-dash line, is something that we should not even give importance to, and we should continue to do whatever UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and international law gives us within our respective areas of sovereign rights or jurisdiction,” he said.

Teodoro also said China cannot violate the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by acting outside its provisions and disregarding the international agreement.

He said China cannot violate UNCLOS by “doing things outside UNCLOS, and disregarding UNCLOS.”

(PNA)