Tensions between China and the Philippines Escalate in the South China Sea

Tension persists between China and the United States, on Taiwan like on the South China Sea. An incident took place near the Spratly Islands on Sunday, April 30 (local time), between Beijing and Manila, notes Le Figaro. A collision was narrowly avoided between a Chinese coastguard vessel and a Philippine vessel. “We ask Beijing to renounce its provocative and dangerous action” in the South China Sea, reacted the spokesman for the American State Department, Matthew Miller.

As a reminder, the United States has a defense agreement with the Philippines. “An armed attack in the Pacific, which includes the South China Sea, against Philippine armed forces, government vessels or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard, would result in the application of mutual defense commitments of States United,” Washington said.

“Legal right”. The Chinese boat would have cut the road to that of the Philippine coast guard. “The images and videos recently published in the media are a stark reminder that the People’s Republic of China is harassing and intimidating Philippine vessels carrying out routine patrols in their exclusive economic zone,” the US State Department said. .

For its part, China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, which it has partly militarized, assures that the Philippines would have “deliberately” wanted to provoke the incident. “Routine patrols in our own waters cannot be premeditated or provocative,” Manila replied, indicating that they are “a legal right.”

These tensions arise the day after the meeting between the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, and the Philippine President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The exchange took place on the matter of feuds in these contested waters. On Monday, the Philippine president is to be received by his American counterpart, Joe Biden.