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Commitment to defend PH reaffirmed as US flexes muscles in South China Sea
Commitment to defend PH reaffirmed as US flexes muscles in South China Sea
The United States under President Joe Biden has reaffirmed its commitment to its alliance with the Philippines amid the new China law that allows its Coast Guard to attack foreign vessels that would ‘intrude’ in the South China Sea.
This comes as two US carrier groups conducted military exercises in the disputed South China, locally referred to as the West Philippine Sea, in what is seen as show force in the area which China has been claiming.
In a telephone conversation with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday, Feb. 10,, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III cited the importance of upholding the Philippines-US alliance through the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), and the Agreement Regarding the Treatment of US Armed Forces Visiting the Philippines (VFA).
“The Secretaries covered the security situation in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea (WPS/SCS), particularly on the capability upgrades of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP),” the DND said in a statement.
The DND statement, however, did not mention the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal ruling although it was cited in a separate statement released by the Pentagon.
“The Secretaries (Austin and Lorenzana) also discussed regional security challenges, to include the South China Sea, counterterrorism, and maritime security, and affirmed the importance of upholding international rules and norms, to include the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal ruling,” the Pentagon statement read.
The Arbitral ruling, filed and won by the Philippine government, junked the claim of China in almost the entire South China Sea.
Last week, Lorenzana said China’s new law could spark an open conflict in the South China Sea. Military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, for his part, called it irresponsible on the part of China.
On Tuesday, it was reported that the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group conducted military exercises in the South China Sea, the exercises were conducted days after the USS John McCain destroyer sailed near the China-controlled Paracel Islands.