US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Beijing to abide by its obligations under international law and to stop its “provocative behavior” in the South China Sea, as he sought to protect the Philippines’ armed forces from “armed attacks”. Reaffirmed the commitment of the Biden administration. by China. Tensions in the South China Sea, which Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam are also fighting, have escalated this year, with Manila accusing Beijing of trying to intimidate its coast guard ships.
Blinken, in a statement Sunday marking the fifth anniversary of a ruling by an independent arbitration tribunal, rejected China’s detailed territorial claims on the strategic waterway it had with the Philippines. A 2016 decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected China’s claims on the South China Sea, while making it clear that China can exercise Philippine sovereignty through activities such as island-building in Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). was infringing.
The top US diplomat said the US could implement the 70-year-old US-Philippine mutual defense agreement in the event of any Chinese military action against Philippine assets in the region. “Freedom of the seas is an enduring interest of all nations and vital to global peace and prosperity,” Blinken said, adding that the international community has long benefited from a rules-based maritime system where international law, as that is reflected in the United Nations. The Law of the Maritime Convention sets out the legal framework for all activities in the oceans and seas. “Nowhere is a rules-based maritime order more at risk than in the South China Sea. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to intimidate and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal states, threatening freedom of navigation along this vital global route is,” he said. .
The US reaffirmed its July 13, 2020 policy regarding maritime claims in the South China Sea, Blinken said, reiterating the Trump-era policy of rejecting China’s claims in the maritime domain. “We also confirm that an armed attack on the Philippine Armed Forces, public ships or aircraft in the South China Sea will enforce America’s mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty,” he said. ” Blinken then called on China “to comply with its obligations under international law, to stop its provocative behavior, and to take steps to reassure the international community that it is committed to a rules-based maritime order that is acceptable to all countries.” Respects rights, big and small.” Reacting sharply to Blinken’s statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called the US statement “irresponsible”.
He said the statement disregards the historical merits and objective facts of the South China Sea issue, violates and distorts international law, and the US government’s long-standing refusal to take a position on the issue of South China Sea sovereignty. Breaks public commitment. “It deliberately creates disputes over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, sows discord between regional countries and undermines regional peace and stability. This is highly irresponsible. China is strongly dissatisfied with the wrongdoing by the US side and vehemently opposes.” The US allegation that our maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea have no basis in international law are completely contrary to the facts.” Zhao said the award of arbitration is “illegal, null and void. It is nothing more than a piece of waste paper. China does not accept or participate in the arbitration, nor does it accept or recognize the award.” “China’s sovereignty and rights and interests over the South China Sea are not affected at all by the arbitration and China shall not be liable to any claim or act of base does not accept. On this. Any sane person can easily see that mediation is a political farce launched by the US to defame and suppress China. “America’s political agenda for promoting the South China Sea issue by taking advantage of the 5th anniversary of the illegal award could not be more clear,” he said.
Through the joint efforts of countries in the region, including China, the passage through the South China Sea has been smooth and safe for some time, and not a single ship has ever reported that its navigation in the South China Sea was disrupted. or a security threat. . The spokesman said the US allegations of a threat to “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea are simply unforgivable. The US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific region in the backdrop of China’s increasing military moves in the region.
China claims almost all of the disputed South China Sea, although Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, underscoring the US stance, the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold on Monday performed a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) near the Paracel Islands in the northwestern part of the South China Sea, the US Navy’s 7th Fleet. said in a statement. These islands, called Xisha in China, are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, but China has controlled them since the 1970s.
Responding to this, China said it applied force to “warn and drive away” the American destroyer, which it said was a violation of its sovereignty. The US last challenged the claims in Paracels in May.
“This is yet another proof of America’s aggressive shipping hegemony and militarization of the South China Sea,” PLA Air Force Colonel Tian Junli, spokesman for the PLA’s Southern Theater Command, said in a statement.
.
read all Breaking Newshandjob today’s fresh news and coronavirus news Here
.