US: "China Threatens South China Sea Order... Will Respond if Philippines Attacked"

"Pressuring and Intimidating Southeast Asian Countries... Threatening Freedom of Navigation"

Tony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] The U.S. administration under Joe Biden has pointed out that China is threatening the international maritime order in the South China Sea. It also declared that if China attacks Philippine forces, the United States will respond to China under the mutual defense treaty.

Amid escalating conflicts between the U.S. and China over numerous issues such as the origin of COVID-19, human rights, Hong Kong, and trade, the conflict between the two countries appears to be expanding to territorial disputes.

According to the Associated Press, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a statement on the 11th (local time), "There is no place where the rules-based maritime order is more threatened than in the South China Sea," criticizing China for continuing to "pressure and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal countries, threatening freedom of navigation in this critical global waterway."

Secretary Blinken also emphasized, "We reaffirm that if there is a use of force against Philippine forces or public vessels or aircraft in the South China Sea, the U.S. mutual defense will be triggered."

Article 4 of the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, signed in 1951, stipulates that both countries shall support each other if attacked.

On the 22nd of last month (local time), a US Navy destroyer passing through the Taiwan Strait [Image source=Yonhap News]

Secretary Blinken added, "We urge China to take measures that will assure the international community that it will comply with its international legal obligations, cease provocative actions, and follow a rules-based maritime order that respects the rights of all countries, large or small."

This statement was issued to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling related to the South China Sea.

In 2016, the PCA ruled that all nine maritime structures China built in the South China Sea were either low-tide elevations or reefs, and that China's claim of 90% of the area as territorial waters based on the U-shaped nine-dash line had no basis under international law.

China has not recognized this ruling and claims almost the entire South China Sea as its territorial waters.