(Beijing) China said Tuesday that the United States has no legitimacy to meddle in the South China Sea, after Washington’s commitment to support the Philippines in the event of a conflict with Beijing in this vast disputed maritime area. .
China claims almost all of the islands in the South China Sea. Other riparian countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have competing and sometimes overlapping claims.
In recent months, tensions between China and the Philippines – which are increasingly asserting their territorial claims – have reached levels not seen in several years.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed in Manila on Tuesday the “ironclad” commitment of the United States to defend the Philippines in the event of conflict with China.
“The United States is not part of the South China Sea and (therefore) has no right to interfere in the disputes between China and the Philippines,” a spokesperson told reporters. word of Chinese diplomacy, Lin Jian.
China regularly accuses the United States of supporting nations with territorial claims rivaling its own in order to counter its growing power.
The Philippines has thus concluded military agreements with the United States and Australia.
“Military cooperation between the United States and the Philippines must not undermine China’s sovereignty, rights and maritime interests in the South China Sea, much less serve as a platform for the Philippines’ illegal claims,” he said. Lin Jian felt.
The spokesperson was asked specifically about comments made earlier by Antony Blinken, who was visiting the Philippines.
China views with concern the strengthening of military ties between the United States and the Philippines, seen by the Asian giant as a way of thwarting its territorial claims in the region.
Seized by the Philippines, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an organization headquartered in the Netherlands, rejected the Chinese claims in 2016, considering them to have no legal basis.
Beijing denounced this decision, considering in particular the Philippine procedure before this jurisdiction to be non-compliant.