US backs Philippines in stand-off over South China Sea reef

The US embassy said it shared the concerns of the Philippines and accused China of using ‘maritime militia to intimidate, provoke, and threaten other nations, which undermines peace and security’

Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Sunday demanded about 200 Chinese vessels he said were militia boats leave the Whitsun Reef, which is claimed by both Manila and Beijing

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The US has expressed concerns over the presence of more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels near a disputed South China Sea reef. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard/National Task Force-West Philippine Sea via AP

Published: 5:20pm, 23 Mar 2021Updated: 5:22pm, 23 Mar 2021

The United States said on Tuesday it is backing the Philippines in a new stand-off with Beijing in the disputed South China Sea, where Manila has asked a Chinese fishing flotilla to leave a reef. China ignored the call, insisting it owns the offshore territory.

The US embassy said it shared the concerns of the Philippines and accused China of using “maritime militia to intimidate, provoke, and threaten other nations, which undermines peace and security in the region”. “We stand with the Philippines, our oldest treaty ally in Asia,” the US embassy in Manila said in a statement.

Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Sunday demanded about 200 Chinese vessels he said were militia boats leave the Whitsun Reef, a shallow coral region about 175 nautical miles (324 kilometres) west of Bataraza town in the western Philippine province of Palawan.

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The South China Sea dispute explained

Philippine officials said the reef, which they call Julian Felipe, is well within the country’s internationally recognised exclusive economic zone, over which the Philippines “enjoys the exclusive right to exploit or conserve any resources”.

The Philippine coastguard spotted about 220 Chinese vessels moored at the reef, which Beijing and Vietnam also claim, on March 7.

On Monday, a surveillance aircraft spotted 183 Chinese vessels still at the reef, said Philippine military chief Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana, who released aerial pictures of the Chinese vessels in one of the most hotly contested regions in the strategic waterway. The Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest over the Chinese presence, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr said.

The Philippine’s and China’s overlapping claims in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea. Image: SCMP

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have been locked in a tense territorial stand-off over the resource-rich and busy waterway for decades. President Rodrigo Duterte would talk to the Chinese ambassador in Manila about the issue, his spokesman, Harry Roque told a news conference.