Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro lashed out at China during a Seoul defense forum Tuesday after receiving an audience note defending Beijing's rejection of a 2016 international tribunal ruling upholding Manila's maritime claims in the South China Sea. Teodoro was addressing maritime challenges facing his country and the importance of compliance with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) during a panel discussion at the Seoul Defense Dialogue when a forum staff member passed him a note from the audience. Pausing his remarks, Teodoro read the note aloud to the room, which asserted Beijing's stance against the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling that invalidated China's "nine-dash line" claims beyond its territory in the South China Sea and reaffirmed the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone. Although the PCA ruling was final and legally binding under UNCLOS, China has rejected the decision as "null and void" and continued to build artificial islands around the Spratly Islands and interfered with the Philippines' maritime activities. The secretary read the