China has issued a warning to the Philippines ahead of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s scheduled visit to Manila this week, urging the Philippine government to “stop serving as other countries’ mouthpiece” and refrain from being used as “chess pieces” in regional power games.
The familiar rebuke was delivered by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun at a press conference on Tuesday, March 25.
Hegseth’s high-level visit to Manila on Friday (March 28) was the first by a high-ranking American official under US President Donald Trump, who took office in January. During Hegseth’s two-day visit, he is scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“Any defense or security cooperation between the Philippines and other countries should not target any third party, harm their interests, threaten regional peace, or escalate tensions in the region,” Guo said.
Using sharp metaphors, the Chinese official warned: “Facts have repeatedly proven that nothing good can come of opening the door to a predator. Those who willingly serve as chess pieces will eventually be abandoned.”
Guo also delivered what appeared to be a direct message to Philippine officials, saying: “Our message to some in the Philippines: Stop serving as mouthpieces for other countries and no longer pursue personal political agendas.”
This is not the first time China has accused the Philippines of acting on the orders of foreign powers.
On March 7, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi characterized the maritime clashes as a “shadow drama” orchestrated by external powers and said Philippine actions in the South China Sea were following a script written by other countries.
Wang’s comments were specifically aimed at Manila’s transparency initiative, which includes media and government documents on clashes between Philippine vessels and Chinese maritime forces.
In the March 7 statement, Wang also used chess metaphors and suggested that the Philippines is a “chess piece” that will eventually be “thrown away.”
The Philippines is the United States’ longest-standing treaty ally in the region. The two countries share a mutual defense treaty that commits them to defending each other in the event of armed attack.
Tensions between Manila and Beijing have been simmering over the past two years, with escalating and repeated clashes in the West Philippine Sea, part of the South China Sea that falls within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
In 2016, an international tribunal found its “nine-dash line” to have no legal basis, but Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea.
The United States has consistently expressed concern about Chinese naval incursions and dangerous maneuvers against Philippine vessels in strategic waterways.
But in addition to the maritime aggression incidents, Beijing is also angered by the continued presence of the US-made Typhoon missile system in the Philippines, which can reach the Chinese mainland when fired from northern Luzon.
Beijing has repeatedly asked Manila to remove the Typhoon intermediate-range missile system. But in an interview in January, Marcos himself rebuked Beijing’s demands, daring it to first stop its aggressive and coercive behavior in the West Philippine Sea.
Hegseth and Teodoro, in their first call in February, discussed the importance of “reestablishing deterrence in the South China Sea, including working with allies and partners.”
