The US on Monday said that it stood by its Philippine ally and emphasized their mutual defense treaty after vessels from China and the Philippines clashed amid heightened tensions in the disputed South China Sea.
Earlier, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Manila not to challenge Beijing’s efforts to “safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests” after Sunday’s incident in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), in which the Philippines said China deployed a water cannon and rammed a Philippine vessel.
US Department of State spokesman Tommy Pigott condemned China’s “ramming and water cannoning” of a Philippine vessel and said Washington stood with its ally “as they confront China’s dangerous actions which undermine regional stability.”
Photo: AFP / Philippine Coast Guard
Pigott in a statement reaffirmed that Article IV of the 1951 US Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty “extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft — including those of its Coast Guard — anywhere in the South China Sea.”
China and the Philippines have traded accusations over the confrontation near Sandy Cay (Tiexian Reef, 鐵線礁), a coral reef in the Spratly Islands.
The two nations have confronted each other repeatedly in the South China Sea, a strategic trade route that facilitates more than US$3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, and which China claims most of.
Tensions have heightened and Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) told a regular news briefing that the Philippines should immediately stop “violations and provocations.”
The US state department said: “China’s sweeping territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea and its increasingly coercive actions to advance them at the expense of its neighbors continue to undermine regional stability and fly in the face of its prior commitments to resolve disputes peacefully.”
Two senior US senators last year called for a list of options developed by the Pentagon and state department to support the Philippines against Beijing in the South China Sea, saying that limiting responses to verbal assurances of the applicability of Article IV undermines the credibility and value of those commitments.
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) yesterday expressed grave concern over China’s behavior, saying it seriously affects regional peace and stability, adding that it opposed any action by China that escalates tensions, endangers personal safety, or harms the peaceful and stable “status quo” in the South China Sea.
The ministry called for a peaceful solution through multilateral dialogue and a dispute resolution mechanism, he said.
Taiwan, together with like-minded countries, would continue to pay attention to the situation in the South China Sea, and commit to maintaining regional security and stability, he added.
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia
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