The United States has again warned it will defend its treaty partner if Philippine forces are attacked in the disputed South China Sea
From
JIM GOMEZ Associated Press
Feb 13, 2023 11:43pm ET
• 4 minutes reading time
MANILA, Philippines — The United States renewed a warning it would defend its treaty ally if Philippine forces were attacked in the disputed South China Sea, after a Chinese Coast Guard vessel allegedly so briefly hit a Philippine patrol vessel with a military laser, blinding some of its crew .
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday summoned Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian to Manila to express serious concern “at the increasing frequency and intensity of actions by China against the Philippine Coast Guard and fishermen,” Communications Minister Cheloy Garafil said without elaborating.
The Foreign Ministry separately sent a strongly worded diplomatic protest to the Chinese embassy, condemning “the Chinese ship’s shadowing, harassment, dangerous maneuvers, directing military-grade lasers and illegal radio challenges.”
The incident happened on Feb. 6 when the Chinese Coast Guard vessel emitted high-level lasers to block the Philippine patrol vessel BRP Malapascua from approaching Second Thomas Shoal to supply Philippine forces there, according to Philippine officials.
China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, putting it on a collision course with other claimants. Chinese naval forces have been accused of previously using military lasers against Australian military aircraft patrolling the South China Sea and other locations in the Pacific.
Despite friendly overtures to Beijing by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his successor Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in January, tensions persisted and led to a closer military alliance between the Philippines and the US
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Monday that a Philippine Coast Guard vessel entered Chinese waters without permission. China Coast Guard ships responded “professionally and with restraint on the ground in accordance with China’s law and international law,” he said, without elaborating or mentioning the use of lasers.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said China’s “dangerous operational behavior directly threatens regional peace and stability, violates the freedom of navigation guaranteed under international law in the South China Sea, and undermines the rules-based international order.”
“The United States stands by our Filipino allies,” Price said in a statement.
He said that an armed attack on Philippine forces, public ships or aircraft, including the Coast Guard in the South China Sea, would invoke US mutual defense obligations under a 1951 treaty. The treaty obliges the allies to defend each other in the event of an attack from outside.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich and busy waterway through which much of the world’s trade and oil flows.
Washington makes no claims to the disputed sea but has deployed armed forces to patrol the waters to promote freedom of navigation and overflight – moves that have angered Beijing, which has warned Washington not to get involved in an alleged trek to meddle in Asian disputes.
The contested waters have become a fickle front in the broader US-China rivalry in Asia and beyond.
Price said the Chinese Coast Guard’s “provocative and unsafe” behavior has hampered the Philippines’ “legitimate operations” in and around Second Thomas Shoal.
In July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling invalidating Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea and warned that Washington had an obligation to defend the Philippines under the Mutual Defense Treaty.
On Monday, Price reiterated that the “binding decision” underscored that China “has no legitimate maritime claims to the second Thomas Shoal.” China has long rejected the verdict and continues to defy it.
In 2022 alone, the Philippines filed nearly 200 diplomatic protests against China’s aggressive actions in the disputed waters.
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington, DC contributed to this report.