Wiretapping row: Filipino commander denies forging new deal with China

Probe into alleged recording of phone call discussing disputed shoal in S. China Sea

- Mara Cepeda

A senior Philippine Navy commander embroiled in an alleged wiretapped conversation with a Chinese diplomat has denied forging a so-called "new deal" with Beijing to de-escalate tensions over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

Vice-Admiral Alberto Carlos on May 22 faced a Philippine Senate committee that kicked off an investigation into the Chinese Embassy's alleged recording of a phone call, made in early January, between the senior Filipino military official and a Chinese military attache whom Mr Carlos identified only as "Colonel Li".

"I did not forge any agreement at the level and magnitude that would bind our two countries for the long term and redefine foreign policy," said Mr Carlos under oath.

"I have not compromised the country's territorial integrity. I have not given up our sovereign rights and entitlements. I am a soldier for the Filipino," he added.

The hearing was suspended without any revelations of what was discussed during the alleged wiretapped conversation. Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian was also a no-show during the hearing.

But a senior counsel for the Philippine Department of Justice said "there indeed was wiretapping", which would violate domestic laws, while a senator presiding over the probe proposed expelling the Chinese diplomat involved.

Mr Carlos had been the chief of the Philippine military's Western Command, which has jurisdiction over the eastern parts of the South China Sea that lie within the country's exclusive economic zone. Manila calls this the West Philippine Sea, but Beijing is also claiming it as its own, along with most of the South China Sea.

Mr Carlos was relieved of his post after the wiretapping scandal broke in early May.