Two senior Republican senators in the United States have called on the Joe Biden administration to provide a comprehensive list of plans developed by the Pentagon and the State Department to support the Philippines in the dispute over sovereignty in the islands and waters of the South China Sea, enabling the Philippines to stand up against Beijing.
According to a report by Reuters on Wednesday, July 17, Senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Jim Risch of Idaho, the highest-ranking Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to President Biden on July 12, stating that “we must demonstrate our support in a clear and tangible manner, or risk appearing unwilling to uphold our bilateral commitments.”
In their letter, they stated, “We request that the government provide us with a complete list of military, diplomatic, and economic plans developed by the State Department and the Department of Defense to support the Philippines and prevent the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from further escalating the situation.”
The senators emphasized that the Biden administration must act swiftly to support the Philippines in countering aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), warning that “it would damage the credibility and value of these commitments if our response is limited to verbally affirming the applicability of the fourth clause.”
According to a defense treaty signed seventy years ago, the United States has an obligation to protect the Philippines if its aircraft or public vessels are attacked in this busy waterway.
The disputed Second Thomas Shoal is at the center of the escalating tensions. In 1999, the Philippines intentionally ran aground a dilapidated warship on the shoal to bolster its maritime claims, with only a few crew members on board. The Philippines regularly supplies the personnel stationed there.
Over the past year, tensions on the disputed waterway have escalated into violent conflicts. In a clash on June 17, a Filipino sailor lost a finger. Manila claimed that the conflict was caused by the intentional high-speed ramming of a Philippine Navy vessel by a Chinese Coast Guard ship.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stated that Manila needs to do more than just protest against the “illegal actions” by China against the Philippine Navy, but he did not elaborate on other possible actions.
Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine Ambassador to the United States, stated that the Philippines currently has not requested U.S. support for transporting supplies to its forces, and the support provided by the U.S. to the Philippines is limited to some intelligence sharing.
In an interview with the Financial Times of the UK on June 25, he expressed that “this is the most dangerous time,” warning that the dispute with Beijing over the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea could trigger a regional conflict, involving the entire Asian region if anything were to happen.
(This article references reporting by Reuters)