Blinken Reaffirms 'Ironclad' Support for the Philippines

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Facts

  • Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Washington's "ironclad" security commitments to the Philippines during a visit to the country on Tuesday amid mounting tensions between Manila and Beijing over disputed areas of the South China Sea.1
  • Under their 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, the US is bound to defend the Southeast Asian nation if Philippine forces, vessels, or aircraft ever come under an armed attack anywhere in the South China Sea.2
  • This comes as the Philippine Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has spent his first year in office shoring up support from the West in a flurry of diplomacy intended to dissuade China from so-called aggressive actions to push its claims to nearly all of the South China Sea.3
  • Beijing promptly countered the statement from America's top diplomat, with a foreign ministry spokesman claiming that the US has no right to meddle in maritime issues between China and the Philippines.4
  • Last week, the PRC suggested it has "historic rights" to international waters in the South China Sea overlapping the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines and other nations saying that China was allegedly the first to "discover, name, explore and exploit" them.5
  • In addition to Blinken's visit to the Philippines, the White House announced on Monday that Pres. Joe Biden will host Marcos Jr. and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on April 11 for a trilateral summit to advance their partnership and "reaffirm ironclad alliances."6

Sources: 1BBC News, 2Associated Press, 3The New York Times, 4 Al Jazeera, 5FOX News and 6RAPPLER.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Washington Post. As China grows aggressive in the South China Sea and has consistently harassed Philippine vessels, it's crucial that freedom-loving countries stand together to protect a free and open Indo-Pacific. Hopefully, bolstered security ties will help deter further aggressive actions and make Beijing understand that all nations benefit from peace in the region.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Global Times. This statement reasserts that Washington sees the Philippines as both a base and a proxy to create geopolitical troubles in the South China Sea and bring regional strategic confrontation to a level unmatched since the end of the Cold War. Emboldened by America's support, Manila has illegally intruded into Chinese waters and challenged Beijing's historic rights.

Predictions