The Philippines, a former US colony, is seen as central to Washington’s efforts to counter China’s increasingly assertive policies in the South China Sea and towards Taiwan.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday visited the Philippine military’s Western Command on the island of Palawan, next to the South China Sea, where he reiterated Washington’s commitment to the Philippines under their 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.
“Americans are profoundly committed to the defence of the Philippines,” Austin said in a joint press conference with his Manila counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro.
“Our commitment to the Mutual Defense Treaty is ironclad. Let me say again that the Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks on either of our own armed forces, aircraft, or public vessels, including our coastguards, anywhere in the South China Sea,” Austin said.
The Philippines and China have been embroiled in repeated disputes the past few years over contested territory in the South China Sea that have turned the strategic waterway into a potential flashpoint between Washington and Beijing.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion in annual ship-borne commerce, putting it at odds with its Southeast Asian neighbours.
In 2016 the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague said China’s claims had no legal basis, siding with the Philippines which brought the case. China rejects that ruling, but Washington, which supports it, says that decision is binding.
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