WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Biden administration on Sunday upheld a Trump-era rejection of nearly all of China\u2019s significant maritime claims in the South China Sea. The administration also warned China that any attack on the Philippines in the flashpoint region would draw a U.S. response under a mutual defense treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stern message from Secretary of State Antony Blinken came in a statement released ahead of this week\u2019s fifth anniversary of an international tribunal\u2019s ruling in favor of the Philippines, against China\u2019s maritime claims around the Spratly Islands and neighboring reefs and shoals. China rejects the ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the ruling last year, the Trump administration came out in favor of the ruling but also said it regarded as illegitimate virtually all Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea outside China\u2019s internationally recognized waters. Sunday\u2019s statement reaffirms that position, which had been laid out by Trump\u2019s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNowhere is the rules-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea,\u201d Blinken said, using language similar to Pompeo\u2019s. He accused China of continuing \u201cto coerce and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal states, threatening freedom of navigation in this critical global throughway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe United States reaffirms its July 13, 2020 policy regarding maritime claims in the South China Sea,\u201d he said, referring to Pompeo\u2019s original statement. \u201cWe also reaffirm that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the South China Sea would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty obligates both countries to come to each other\u2019s aid in case of an attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to Pompeo\u2019s statement, U.S. policy had been to insist that maritime disputes between China and its smaller neighbors be resolved peacefully through U.N.-backed arbitration. The shift did not apply to disputes over land features that are above sea level, which are considered to be \u201cterritorial\u201d in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the U.S. continues to remain neutral in territorial disputes, it has effectively sided with the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, all of which oppose Chinese assertions of sovereignty over maritime areas surrounding contested South China Sea islands, reefs and shoals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China reacted angrily to the Trump administration\u2019s announcement and is likely to be similarly peeved by the Biden administration\u2019s decision to retain and reinforce it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe call on (China) to abide by its obligations under international law, cease its provocative behavior, and take steps to reassure the international community that it is committed to the rules-based maritime order that respects the rights of all countries, big and small,\u201d Blinken said in the statement,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China has rejected the tribunal\u2019s decision, which it has dismissed as a \u201csham,\u201d and has refused to participate in arbitration proceedings. It has continued to defy the decision with aggressive actions that have brought it into territorial spats with Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As last year\u2019s statement did, Sunday\u2019s announcement came amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and China over numerous issues, including the coronavirus pandemic, human rights, Chinese policy in Hong Kong and Tibet and trade, that have sent relations plummeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China claims almost all of the South China Sea and routinely objects to any action by the U.S. military in the region. Five other governments claim all or part of the sea, through which approximately $5 trillion in goods are shipped every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China has sought to shore up its claims to the sea by building military bases on coral atolls, leading the U.S. to sail its warships through the region on what it calls freedom of operation missions. The United States has no claims itself to the waters but has deployed warships and aircraft for decades to patrol and promote freedom of navigation and overflight in the busy waterway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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