THE United States has affirmed its commitment to defend the Philippines if any of its troops, public vessels or aircraft are attacked in the South China Sea (SCS) or West Philippine Sea.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the assurance as Washington reiterated its support for the 2016 The Hague ruling in favor of the Philippines.
He said the US reaffirms its July 13, 2020, policy regarding maritime claims in the SCS.
Then-US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said Washington will not allow Beijing to turn the SCS as its “maritime empire.”
On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines as it declared the so-called China’s nine-dash line national boundary has no legal basis to claim historic rights to almost all resources in the South China Sea.
“Six years ago, an arbitral tribunal constituted under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention delivered a unanimous decision, which is final and binding on the Philippines and the PRC (People’s Republic of China),” Blinken said.
In a statement, he noted that in its ruling, the tribunal “firmly rejected the PRC’s expansive South China Sea maritime claims as having no basis in international law.”
The tribunal also stated that the China has no lawful claim to the areas determined by the arbitral tribunal to be part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
“We call again on the PRC to abide by its obligations under international law and cease its provocative behavior,” Blinken said.
“We also reaffirm that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the South China Sea would invoke US mutual defense commitments under Article 4 of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty,” he added.
The United States, according to Blinken, will continue to work with the Philippines and other allies to protect and preserve the rules-based order in the region.
“We will continue to work with allies and partners, as well as regional institutions like Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to protect and preserve the rules-based order,” he said.
“As I noted in my May 26 speech, the United States and our Indo-Pacific allies and partners are committed to preserving a system where goods, ideas and people flow freely across land, sky, cyberspace and the open seas,” Blinken added.
“This system benefits all countries, big and small,” he said.
Blinken pointed out that preserving a free and open SCS governed by international law, as reflected in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea or Unclos is part of this shared vision.
He noted that this year, the State Department released Limits in the Seas 150 — the latest study in a series examining coastal state maritime claims and their consistency with international law — which examines the China’s revised articulation of its SCS maritime claims after the issuance of the arbitral tribunal’s ruling.
___
(c) 2022 The Manila Times
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
