The United States has assured the Philippines of its “ironclad commitment” to their alliance following the Chinese Coast Guard’s harassment of the country’s vessel using a military-grade laser. | JEMendozaINQ
Signed by two parties on August 30, 1951, the MDT states that both countries would support each other if an external party attacked either the Philippines or the United States.“The OIC, DND expressed appreciation for the US Government’s support for the Philippines in view of recent incidents in the West Philippine Sea, including the use of a military-grade laser against members of the Philippine Coast Guard in the vicinity of Ayungin Shoal,” the DND said.
China’s action was anchored to its assertion that it owns almost all of the areas in the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea. But in 2016, the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague invalidated China’s claim to almost the entire South China Sea.The tribunal ruled that China’s claim had no basis in international law and that it had violated the Philippines’ sovereign right to fish and explore resources in the West Philippine Sea, the waters within the country’s 370-kilometer EEZ in the South China Sea.
This after the Philippines, under the administration of the late President Benigno Aquino III in 2013, challenged in the Hague court China’s claim that it owned more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, which included waters in the EEZ of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
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