Trump administration promises ‘ironclad’ support for Philippines’ security

New US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticised China’s ‘dangerous’ actions towards the Philippines successful the South China Sea.

New United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured Manila of Washington’s “ironclad” committedness to defending the Philippines successful the look of Chinese provocation successful the South China Sea, during his archetypal telephone with Philippines Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo.

Rubio besides criticised Beijing’s “dangerous and destabilising actions successful the South China Sea” successful the telephone connected Wednesday with Manalo, which the US’s apical diplomat said violated planetary law.

“Secretary Rubio conveyed that [China’s] behaviour undermines determination bid and stableness and is inconsistent with planetary law,” the State Department said successful a statement.

“An equipped onslaught successful the Pacific, including anyplace successful the South China Sea, connected either of their nationalist vessels, aircraft, oregon equipped forces – which includes their Coast Guards – would invoke communal defence commitments,” the State Department noted.

Washington and the Philippines, a erstwhile US colony, signed the Mutual Defense Treaty successful 1951 stipulating that some countries would travel to 1 another’s defence if they faced attack.

Rubio held the telephone with his Philippine counterpart a time aft holding a four-way gathering with his Quadrilateral Security Dialogue counterparts from India, Japan and Australia.

In a veiled informing to Beijing, the four-country diplomatic and information grouping – known arsenic the Quad – said they enactment a “free and unfastened Indo-Pacific” region, “where the regularisation of law, antiauthoritarian values, sovereignty and territorial integrity are upheld and defended”.

“We besides powerfully reason immoderate unilateral actions that question to alteration the presumption quo by unit oregon coercion,” they said successful a statement.

China holds expansive claims covering astir of the South China Sea, infringing connected the maritime claims of respective Southeast Asia nations, including the Philippines.

A Filipino activistic holds a placard during a protestation condemning China’s actions successful the South China Sea, extracurricular of the Chinese Consulate successful Manila, the Philippines, connected April 9, 2024 [Lisa Marie David/Reuters]

In 2016, successful a quality brought by Manila against Beijing, the Permanent Court of Arbitration tribunal successful The Hague ruled that China’s territorial claims successful the South China Sea lacked immoderate ineligible basis.

The ruling, which Beijing has rejected, has had small bearing connected China’s increasing assertive actions successful the disputed maritime area.

Chinese and Philippine vessels person engaged successful progressively tense confrontations implicit disputed islands, waters and reefs successful the country implicit the past year.

On January 14, the Philippines criticised China for deploying a “monster ship” wrong Manila’s exclusive maritime economical zone, calling the determination by China’s coastguard alarming and intended to intimidate fishermen operating astir a contested shoal.

“It is an escalation and provocative,” Philippines National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said astatine the time, adding that the beingness of the vas was “illegal” and “unacceptable”.

In response, the Philippine navy held a “sovereignty patrol” with a live-fire workout adjacent the shoal, followed by associated subject exercises with the US.

That week, China’s People’s Liberation Army besides conducted subject combat readiness drills successful the contested waters.

The Scarborough Shoal is 1 of the hotly disputed chains of reefs successful the South China Sea. While sitting wrong the Philippines’ exclusive economical portion (EEZ), China holds de facto power implicit the shoal.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies