“We call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement on Saturday, just two days before President Joe Biden is to host his counterpart, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, in Washington, DC.
The State Department also warned that an attack on Philippine security forces or public vessels would trigger a US response.
“The United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that an armed attack in the Pacific, which includes the South China Sea, on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard, would invoke US mutual defense commitments,” Miller said in the statement.
Earlier on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Philippine ships had entered Chinese waters and carried out deliberate provocative actions.
MNA/PR
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