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Manila, Philippines (AP) —US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls on China to comply with the 2016 arbitration award that nullifies Beijing’s vast claims in the South China Sea, and Washington calls its allies, the Philippines, to its troops. He warned that he had an obligation to defend. Ships and aircraft are being attacked in conflict areas.
Brinken’s statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Manila on Tuesday marks the sixth anniversary of the 2016 decision by the arbitral tribunal established in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea after the Philippine government complained in 2013. It was announced.More and more in China Aggressive behavior in the disputed sea..
China has not participated in the arbitration, rejected the ruling as a fake and continues to ignore it, and has recently been brought to territorial spats with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian plaintiffs.
“We again call on China to comply with its obligations under international law and stop its provocative actions,” Blinken said using the acronym of China’s official name.
Under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, Blinken “reaffirms that armed attacks on Philippine troops, official vessels, or aircraft in the South China Sea also trigger US mutual defense promises.” ..
With the exception of China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have abundant seafloor gas and oil deposits, with overlapping claims in congested waterways where an estimated $ 5 trillion worth of trade and goods are transported. I am. Every year.
The Flashpoint region has become an important frontline of competition between the United States and China.
Washington does not claim disputed waters, but has deployed naval vessels and Air Force jets to patrol waterways for decades, and freedom of navigation and flight over disputed areas is the United States. It states that it is in the national interest. It evoked an angry reaction from China that accused the United States of purely interfering with the conflict in Asia and warned it to move away.
Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo said Tuesday that the arbitration award would be a pillar of the new administration’s policies and actions in conflict areas, rejecting attempts to undermine “indisputable” decisions.
“These findings are decisive because they are no longer within the scope of denial or counterargument and are indisputable. The awards are final,” Manaro said in a statement.
“We categorically reject attempts to undermine it … even erasing it from law, history, and our collective memory,” he did not name China, but apparently it. Manaro hinted at.
China is likely to be frowned upon by Manaro’s policy stance on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration. Inaugurated on June 30 After winning the landslide election.
Rodrigo Duterte, the predecessor of Marcos Jr., has postponed the arbitral award for many years since taking office in 2016, fostering close ties with China’s President Xi Jinping, and US security policy. I often criticized.
In 2019, Duterte finally asked Xi to follow the ruling at a meeting in Beijing, but said Chinese leaders clearly said, “We are not upset.”
Marcos Jr. upheld the arbitration decision and said it would not allow even a square millimeter of Filipino waters to be trampled.
However, in an interview with the DZRH wireless network in January before taking office, Marcos Jr. said China refused to approve the ruling and would not help resolve the dispute with Beijing.
Marcos Jr. said Duterte’s policy of diplomatic involvement with China was “really our only option.”
He faced a call on Tuesday calling on China to comply with the arbitral award and overturn Duterte’s soft approach, which undermined Philippine sovereignty in conflict seas.
Dozens of leftist activists and workers protest in front of the Chinese Consulate in Makati Financial District, Manila on Tuesday, respecting arbitrage awards in Beijing, and Marcos Jr. defending national territory and sovereignty in the South China Sea I asked.
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Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.
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