Trump administration promises ‘armored’ support for Philippine security | South China Sea News
New US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized China’s ‘dangerous’ actions towards the Philippines in the South China Sea.
The new United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured Manila of Washington’s “armored” commitment to defend the Philippines against Chinese provocation in the South China Seaduring his first conversation with Philippine Foreign Affairs Minister Enrique Manala.
Rubio also criticized Beijing’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” in a conversation with Manala on Wednesday, which the top US diplomat said violates international law.
“Secretary Rubio passed it on [China’s] conduct undermines regional peace and stability and is inconsistent with international law,” the State Department said in a statement.
“Armed attack in the Pacific, including anywhere in the South China Seaon any of their public vessels, aircraft or armed forces – which includes their coast guards – would invoke mutual defense obligations,” the State Department noted.
Washington and the Philippines, a former American colony, signed a Mutual Defense Treaty in 1951, which stipulated that both countries would defend each other if attacked.
Rubio held talks with his Philippine counterpart a day after a quadrilateral meeting with his Quadrilateral Security Dialogue counterparts from India, Japan and Australia.
In a veiled warning to Beijing, the diplomatic and security grouping of the four countries – known as the Quad – said they supported a “free and open Indo-Pacific” region, “where the rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty and territorial integrity were upheld and defended”.
“We also strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo through force or coercion,” they said in a statement.
China has big claims covering much of the South China Sea, violating the maritime rights of several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines.
In 2016, in a dispute brought by Manila against Beijing, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea lacked any legal basis.
The ruling, rejected by Beijing, has had little impact on China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed maritime area.
Chinese and Philippine vessels have engaged in increasingly tense clashes over disputed islands, waters and reefs in the area over the past year.
On January 14, the Philippines criticized China for deploying a “monster ship” within Manila’s exclusive maritime economic zone, calling the Chinese Coast Guard’s move alarming and intended to intimidate fishermen operating around the disputed shoal.
“It is an escalation and a provocation,” Philippine National Security Council spokesman Jonathan Malaya said at the time, adding that the ship’s presence was “illegal” and “unacceptable.”
In response, the Philippine Navy held a “sovereignty patrol” with a live gunnery exercise near the shoal, followed by joint military exercises with the US.
That week, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army also conducted military combat readiness exercises in the disputed waters.
Scarborough Shoal is one of the highly contested reef chains in the South China Sea. While located within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), China holds de facto control over the shoal.
