US says China intimidates Philippine vessels in South China Sea

World
By William

The United States has accused China of “harassment and intimidation of Philippine vessels” and called on Beijing to end “provocative” actions in the South China Sea following a recent near-collision between a Chinese ship and a Philippine-owned boat. coast guard.

“We call on Beijing to refrain from its provocative and unsafe behavior,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement Saturday, just two days before President Joe Biden told his counterpart, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Jr., in Washington. DC.

The State Department also warned that an attack on Philippine security forces or public vessels would provoke a response from the US.

“The United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that any armed attack in the Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea, against Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard, would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments,” Miller said in the statement.

The US was responding to a near miss between Chinese and Philippine ships off the Spratly Islands — the latest in a long string of maritime incidents between the two countries in the troubled South China Sea.

The Philippines on Friday accused the Chinese Coast Guard of “aggressive tactics” following an incident during a Philippine Coast Guard patrol near the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Archipelago, a focus of earlier altercations 105 nautical miles (105 nautical miles). 195 km) from the Chinese coast. coast.

The Second Thomas Shoal is home to a small Philippine military contingent aboard a rusty World War II American ship that was deliberately grounded in 1999 to bolster the Philippines’ territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, ignoring an international ruling that the claim has no legal basis.

Reporters from the AFP news agency were among staff from several media outlets who witnessed the recent incident after journalists were invited to join two Philippine Coast Guard boats on a six-day patrol of the waters, visiting a dozen islands and reefs .

The Philippine ships approached Second Thomas Shoal, known in China as Ren’ai Jiao. As a boat, the BRP Malapascua, carrying Filipino journalists approached the shallows, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel more than twice its size came in its path. The commander of the Malapascua said the Chinese ship came within 45 meters (150 feet) of his boat, and only his quick actions prevented the steel-hulled ships from crashing into each other.

China’s foreign ministry said Friday that the Philippine boats had “intruded” without China’s permission, calling it a “premeditated provocative act”.

Manila responded saying that “routine patrols in our own waters cannot be premeditated or provocative” and insisted they will continue to conduct the patrols.

Philippine President Marcos has insisted that China will not undermine his country’s rights in the sea and has leaned towards the US as he seeks to strengthen defense ties with Washington in the face of an increasingly aggressive China in the region.

This shift has alarmed China, which has accused Washington of driving a wedge between Beijing and Manila.

‘Moral and practical support for the Philippines’

Marcos will arrive in the US on Sunday for a four-day visit that Philippine officials say is designed to reaffirm the special relationship between longtime allies Manila and Washington.

A senior US government official told Reuters news agency that the strategic importance of the Philippines was impossible to underestimate, even though the relationship was about more than just security.

“We are trying not to provoke, but to provide both moral and practical support to the Philippines as they navigate a complex Western Pacific,” the official said. “Their geographic position is critical,” he added.

Experts say Washington sees the Philippines as a potential site for missiles, missiles and artillery systems to counter a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier this month after the first combined meeting of top U.S. and Philippine defense officials that it was “too early” to discuss what assets the U.S. might want to station at bases in the Philippines.

It is a delicate issue for Manila, not only because of its concerns about China, its main trading partner, but also because of its past domestic resistance to the US military presence.

The two sides agreed in the coming months to finalize a roadmap for the delivery of U.S. defense aid to Manila over the next five to 10 years.

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