The United States has issued a warning to Beijing that it will defend the Philippines against any armed aggression taken by China after Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels in the South China Sea, heightening Sino-Philippine tensions.
“The United States renewed a warning Monday that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack under a 1951 treaty, after Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels off a contested shoal in the South China Sea.
Philippine diplomats summoned a Chinese Embassy official in Manila on Monday for a strongly worded protest following Sunday’s collision of Second Thomas Shoal. No injuries were reported but the encounters damaged a Philippine coast guard ship and a wooden-hulled supply boat operated by navy personnel, officials said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called an emergency meeting with the defense secretary and other top military and security officials to discuss the latest hostilities in the disputed waters. The Philippines and other neighbors of China have resisted Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims over virtually the entire South China Sea, and some, like Manila, have sought U.S. military support as incidents multiply.
The Philippines also plans to raise its alarm over the Chinese ships’ dangerous maneuvers in talks between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on a proposed nonaggression pact — a ‘code of conduct’ — to prevent a major armed conflict in the South China Sea. Beijing is hosting the three-day negotiations starting Monday, two Philippine officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to publicly discuss details of the talks.
Teodoro said it was ‘very ironic’ that China was hosting the talks that aim to prevent major conflicts at sea when they just committed ‘a blatant disregard of international law’.
The territorial conflicts involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei have long been regarded as a flashpoint in a delicate fault line in the U.S.-China rivalry.
About five Chinese coast guard ships, eight accompanying vessels and two navy ships formed a blockade on Sunday to prevent two Philippine coast guard ships and two boats from delivering food and other supplies to Filipino forces stationed at Second Thomas Shoal aboard a marooned navy ship, Philippine coast guard Commodore Jay Tarriela said.
During the standoff, one of the Philippine coast guard ships and a supply boat were separately hit by a Chinese coast guard ship and a vessel. Only one of the two Filipino boats managed to deliver supplies to Philippine forces, Tarriela said.
The Chinese coast guard on Sunday blamed the Philippine vessels for causing the collisions and said the Filipinos were carrying construction materials to strengthen their outpost at the shoal.
The U.S. and other allies expressed alarm over the Chinese action. Washington renewed a warning that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines under a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including ‘those of its coast guard — anywhere in the South China Sea’”. -Jim Gomez and Simina Mistreanu, Associated Press
In response to the recent clashes between China and the Philippines, the U.S. Defense Department ordered three C-130J-30 Super Hercules tactical airlifters for delivery in 2026, according to a news release from Lockheed Martin.
The Philippines is also expecting to receive more Acero-class gunboats next year under a deal that Manila reached with Israel.
Although the behavior of Filipino vessels in the South China Sea, or "the West Philippine Sea”, as it is known in the Philippines, has the potential to provoke a confrontation with China over disputed territorial sovereignty, unless Manila’s primary objective is to enable the United States to go on a war footing against China, the Philippine government would do its best to access the possible benefits and drawbacks of a departure from the orbit of the U.S. for the sake of reestablishing relations with Beijing to circumvent the rise of further escalations in the Indo-Pacific region.