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US vows Philippines aid against “armed attack” in China-claimed sea
MANILA, March 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on
Friday vowed to defend the Philippines against “armed attack” in the disputed
South China Sea in Washington’s starkest warning yet against Chinese claims
to most of the strategic waterway.
Speaking in Manila after meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte, Pompeo said Beijing’s building of artificial islands in waters also
claimed by Manila and other neighbours were potential threats to the two
allies.
“China’s island-building and military activities in the South China Sea
threaten your sovereignty, security and therefore economic livelihood, as
well as that of the United States,” he said at a joint news conference with
Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin.
“As the South China Sea is part of the Pacific, any armed attack of
Philippine forces, aircraft or public vessels in the South China Sea will
trigger mutual defence obligations under Article 4 of our Mutual Defence
Treaty.”
Pompeo’s comments marked the first time any US official had publicly
stated Washington’s intent to defend its ally in the flashpoint sea.
A 1951 US-Philippine mutual defence treaty committed Manila and its former
colonial master to come to each other’s aid in case of an “armed attack in
the Pacific area” on either party.
Senior Duterte officials have called for a review of the mutual defence
pact with the US because they were unsure whether it applied to the South
China Sea row.
Philippine troops, as well as fishermen, have frequently complained about
harassment by Chinese maritime security forces around some of the islands and
reefs occupied by Filipino troops.
The United States has said it is not taking sides in the disputes over
South China Sea islands and waters claimed by China, the Philippines, Brunei,
Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. Beijing claims most of the sea.
However, Washington has asserted its right to freely sail its military and
merchant vessels over waters through which trillions of dollars in global
trade pass through each year and which reputedly contain vast mineral and oil
reserves.
The Philippines was previously one of the staunchest critics to China’s
island-building and militarisation of the islands.
But Duterte put the dispute on the back burner when he was elected
president in 2016 in favour of chasing Chinese trade and investment.
He threatened a split with the United States and called then US President
Barack Obama a “son of a whore”.
Relations are being rebuilt under US President Donald Trump, who has
hailed Duterte’s actions — including a drugs crackdown that has claimed
thousands of lives — as a sign of toughness.
Foreign Secretary Locsin on Friday downplayed his government’s suggestions
for a review of the US defence pact, saying in its “vagueness lies the best
deterrence”.
“They (US forces) will respond depending on the circumstances but we are
very assured, we are very confident that United States has, in the words of
Secretary Pompeo and words of President Trump to our president: we have your
back,” Locsin said.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1229 hrs