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Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. on Saturday gave a stinging rebuke to China after it warned that Manila should not be “playing with fire” after Teodoro said he wanted increased military presence in Batanes, the country’s northernmost province facing Taiwan.
“The Defense Department stresses that Batanes is Philippine territory and China has no business warning the Philippines about what it does within its territory,” the Department of National Defense (DND) said in a statement.
The DND was reacting to Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin who said Taiwan is “at the heart of China’s core interests and is a red line and bottom line that must not be crossed.
