Washington: Biden Administration on Sunday upholds the rejection of Trump-era against almost all significant Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea.
Administration also warns China that every attack on the Philippines in the Flashpoint area will attract US responses under the reciprocal defense agreement.
Stern’s message from the Secretary of State Antony Blinken came in a statement released before the fifth birthday this week about the verdict of the international court that benefited the Philippines, against Chinese maritime claims around the Spratly Islands and Reef and Bending neighbors.
China rejected the verdict.
Towards a four-year anniversary of the government last year, Trump’s administration came out in possession but also said it was considered invalid, almost all Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea were outside the internationally recognized waters in China.
The statement of the week reaffirmed the position, which was put by the Secretary of Trump, Mike Pompeo.
“Everywhere is a rule-based maritime sequence under a greater threat than in the South China Sea,” Blinken said, using a language similar to Pompeo.
He accused China continuing “to force and intimidate the coastal countries of Southeast Asia, threatening freedom of navigation on this critical global road.” “The United States reaffirms policy July 20 2020 concerning maritime claims in the South China Sea,” he said, referring to the original Pompeo statement.
“We also reaffirmed that armed attacks on the Philippine Armed Forces, ships, or airplanes in the South China Sea will beg for our shared defense commitment.” Article IV in 1951 Mutual AS-Filipino Defense Agreement requires both countries to help each other if there is an attack.
Before Pompeo’s statement, the US policy has insisted that maritime disputes between China and smaller neighbors were resolved peacefully through an unsupported arbitration.
The shift does not apply to disputes over land features above sea level, which is considered a “territorial” in nature.
Even though the US continued to remain neutral in a territorial dispute, he effectively sided with the Philippines.
, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, all of which opposed the statement of sovereignty of sovereignty over the maritime area around the South China Sea Islands, reefs and shoals.
China reacted angrily at the announcement of Trump’s administration and is likely to be rusted by the Biden government.
The decision to maintain and strengthen it.
“We call (China) to comply with their obligations under international law, stop the provocate to ive behavior, and take steps to convince the international community that it is committed to rule-based maritime commands that respect the rights of all countries, big and small,” Blinken said in a statement That, China has rejected the tribunal decision, which has been dismissed as “false,” and has refused to participate in the arbitration process.
It continues to oppose decisions with aggressive actions that have taken it into territorial cry with Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia in recent years.
As last year’s statement, Sunday announcement came amid rising tensions between the US and China for many problems, including the Coronavirus pandemic, human rights, Chinese policies in Hong Kong and Tibet and trade, who have sent a plump relationship.
China claims almost all South China sea and routinely objects for any action by the US military in the region.
Five other governments claim all or part of the sea, where around USD 5 trillion in goods are sent every year.
China has tried to support its claim to the sea by building a military base on coral atolls, leading the US to sail his warship through the area about what he called the operating mission.
The United States has no claim itself on the waters but has deployed warships and aircraft for decades to patrol and promote freedom of navigation and holes in busy waterways.