Truth of China's 'new model' claims must be laid bare

ON Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy in Manila presented what it claimed was a recording of a telephone conversation between an unidentified embassy official and Western Command (Wescom) chief Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, wherein the latter purportedly agreed to China's "new model" for operations to supply the Philippine outpost on Ayungin Shoal, and confirmed that Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. all concurred with the plan. The claim by the embassy is alarming in the extreme and may represent the most aggressive move yet by the Chinese government against the Philippines over control of the West Philippine Sea.