China Sends Lowest-Level Delegation Since 2010 to ADMM-Plus in Cebu

Photo: Staff Sgt. Madelyn Keech, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (2025 file photo of ADMM-Plus talks in Malaysia, not from the Cebu meeting).

China sent its defense attaché in Manila, Senior Capt. Yang Lei, to represent it at the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Cebu this week, the lowest level of Chinese representation at the forum since it began in 2010, according to The Straits Times. Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun attended the 2025 meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The ADMM-Plus downgrade follows weeks of tension between Manila and Beijing over the South China Sea.

How the ADMM-Plus downgrade unfolded

Philippine Defense Undersecretary Ignacio Madriaga received Yang at the meeting on Oct. 28–29, 2026, The Philippine Star reported. Defense ministers from the 11 ASEAN members and eight partner countries, including the United States, Japan, Australia and India, attended in person.

China’s Ministry of National Defense explained the decision at a press briefing. Spokesman Zhang Xiaogang blamed “a certain self-serving politician” of the host country and said “many ASEAN countries have raised questions” about the Philippines’ handling of the chair, according to the ministry’s English-language transcript. !Unverified claim, China Ministry of National Defense (Government of the People's Republic of China) The ministry did not name the official it meant.

Teodoro: “it is not ASEAN’s position”

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro rejected the Chinese account. “It is China’s position, it is not ASEAN’s position,” he told reporters, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Asked about protocol, he said that “an undersecretary receiving an attaché, that is already more than courteous.”

The dispute sits on top of a sharper diplomatic row. This month, Manila summoned Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan after remarks in which he said that in a conflict China “may easily win,” which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said sounded “like a threat,” as we reported in our coverage of the summons. Philippine and Chinese vessels have also had a series of confrontations near disputed features this autumn, detailed in our timeline of South China Sea incidents.

What the ministers agreed

Despite the row, the ASEAN ministers adopted five new initiatives under the ADMM framework and issued a Manila Joint Declaration, The Philippine Star reported. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proposed a new U.S.-ASEAN defense cooperation framework at the meeting, building on the agenda he set out on arrival, as we covered in our report on Hegseth in Cebu. ASEAN ministers did not announce whether they would accept it.

Singapore takes over the ADMM chair in 2027, and the South China Morning Post also reported on Beijing’s choice of delegation.

Why the ADMM-Plus matters

The ADMM-Plus is one of the few standing forums where China and the United States sit with Southeast Asian defense chiefs. Its expert working groups run joint exercises on maritime security, humanitarian aid and counterterrorism. A Chinese step back from ministerial attendance does not end that work, but it removes a high-level channel at a time of frequent close encounters at sea.

The ASEAN Summit in Manila on Nov. 10–12 will be the next test of whether the China–Philippines dispute colors the wider bloc’s agenda, including long-running talks on a South China Sea code of conduct. Regional tensions extend beyond the sea itself: Taiwan this week tracked 53 Chinese ships in nearby waters, detailed in our Taiwan ship map. For more, see our Southeast Asia news hub.

Background: how the forum works

The ADMM-Plus was launched in Hanoi in October 2010 to bring ASEAN defense ministers together with eight partners: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the United States. It now meets every year, with the ASEAN chair hosting. Below the ministers, seven expert working groups cover maritime security, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping, military medicine, humanitarian mine action and cybersecurity.

China’s defense minister or a senior deputy has typically attended. Sending an attaché, a mid-ranking officer posted to an embassy, is a clear protocol signal, and the Straits Times described it as the lowest level of Chinese representation since the forum began.

The Philippines and China have clashed repeatedly at Second Thomas Shoal, Scarborough Shoal and Sabina Shoal, where Philippine and Chinese coast guard vessels have collided and Chinese ships have used water cannon. An international arbitral tribunal ruled in 2016 that China’s claims to historic rights inside its “nine-dash line” had no legal basis; Beijing rejects the ruling. The ASEAN chair this year is also pushing to conclude a code of conduct for the sea, a goal China and ASEAN set for 2026.

Related coverage: ASEAN envoy’s Myanmar mission. Find all of our regional reporting, plus country facts and official resources, on the Southeast Asia news hub.

Sources

• The Straits Times: China downgrades envoy to South-east Asian meeting after sea row
• The Philippine Star: ADMM-Plus coverage, Oct. 29, 2026
• Philippine Daily Inquirer: Teodoro on China’s delegation
• China Ministry of National Defense: regular press conference transcript

Additional sources

• South China Morning Post: China’s low-level ADMM-Plus delegation
• ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting official site