U.S reaffirms support to SE Asian countries amid tensions with China
Top US diplomat has reaffirmed the country’s commitment to stand with the Southeast Asian nations as tensions once again escalate with China over a long-running dispute regarding South China Sea.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the remarks in a call with his Filipino counterpart, Teodoro Locsin, on Wednesday. “Secretary Blinken pledged to stand with Southeast Asian claimants in the face of PRC pressure,” the State Department said in a statement following the call. He also emphasized the value of a long-standing security pact between the Allies and its direct implementation if Manila was threatened in the South China Sea.
Locsin had previously lodged a formal diplomatic complaint against Beijing’s decision to allow its coastguard, which is engaged in the disputed region, to open fire on foreign vessels. Blinken and Locsin accepted that the US-Philippine partnership was vital to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. This move came days after the inauguration of the newly elected president, Joe Biden.
Recently, Japan has also joined the growing list of countries that are opposing China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea. On Wednesday, Biden told Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that his government is committed to defending Japan, especially the Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by China.
China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, which also accounts for one-third of the world’s maritime shipping. Several Southeast Asian nations such as the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia have overlapping claims.
The United States, which has accused China of taking advantage of the distraction of the ongoing pandemic to further increase its presence in the South China Sea, had sent a naval force led by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt through the waterway to promote “freedom of the seas”. It entered the region on Saturday.
On the same day, China dispatched a fleet of 13 warplanes, including nuclear-capable bombers, into the southwestern corner of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
