Courtesy: AFP
CAGAYAN de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez today welcomed the assurance of US State Secretary Anthony Blinken about the the United States’ defense obligations to the Philippines in case hostilities erupt in the West Philippine Sea.
“We thank the US for the assurance, which is a reiteration of the commitment made by President Joe Biden to President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. during their highly successful trilateral summit together with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington DC last April 11,” he said.
This was the second US statement in two weeks reminding China of US commitments to defend the Philippines in case Beijing attacks any Philippine public vessel or aircraft or troops in the West Philippine Sea, he said.
In Beijing on Friday for meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Wang Yi, Blinken said, “I made clear that while the US will continue to de-escalate tensions, our defense commitments to the Philippines remain ironclad.”
He said he raised Beijing’s in such meetings “dangerous actions in the South China Sea,” which includes the West Philippine Sea.
According to reports, the US and China agreed to “avoid miscalculations” by continuing their dialogue on issues of conflict, including those involving the South China Sea.
Rodriguez said China should prove it is true to its word by stopping its frequent intrusions into the WPS and the 200-mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.
“That is the only way Beijing can avoid miscalculation with the US, which is treaty-obligated to defend the Philippines. That also means that China will have to give up the sea features inside the Philippines’ EEZ that it has occupied, one of two of which Beijing has militarized,” he said.
He said the Chinese should abandon Scarborough Shoal, known as Bajo de Masinloc to Zambales and Pangasinan fishermen, which it seized in 2012, and stop harassing resupply missions to BRP Sierra Madre, the Philippine military outpost in Ayungin Shoal off Palawan.
He added that Scarborough Shoal and Ayungin Shoal are less than 300 kilometers from Zambales, Pangasinan, and Palawan, well within the Philippine 200 mile EEZ, while they are 700 to more than 1,000 kilometers from the nearest Chinese island of Hainan.
“There is no doubt that these are within our exclusive economic zone under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Seas ((UNCLOS). Why China continues to claim them defies logic. Clearly, Beijing has to stop its intrusions into our EEZ, including the WPS, and its harassment of our troops and fishermen to stop a possible miscalculation with the US,” Rodriguez stressed.
