Philippines keeps eye on Chinese workers over potential ‘covert activities’ amid South China Sea tensions
- ‘It’s the activities that we cannot see that alarm us,’ said Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, as the long-standing South China Sea row continues
- With Beijing expanding its claims in the region, he said Manila is aware of the ‘fusion of external threats through internal activities’
Teodoro said he was not too worried about construction work as it could be monitored, but the likely clandestine dealings happening in the background remained a concern.
“It’s the activities that we cannot see … that’s what alarms us,” he said. “What we want to know and focus on are the covert economic activities and information activities that are not overtly happening.”
Teodoro’s remarks came after a senior coastguard official this week accused China of funding a misinformation campaign justifying its presence in Manila’s exclusive economic zone in the resource-rich waterway.
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Teodoro acknowledged that the military and the Department of National Defence were aware of the “fusion of external threats through internal activities” and security agencies were working to dig deeper into the issue, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
