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China has warned that it will “respond resolutely” to the US ally Philippines if Manila commits any violation of a recently-signed bilateral deal on the South China Sea.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, which overlaps with the waters of the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan. The disputed waters are believed to sit atop vast oil and gas reserves.
China has also constructed several artificial islands over the past few years in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. The move has drawn harsh criticism from the Philippines and the United States.
The longstanding territorial row between Beijing and Manila soared particularly under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, with the Philippines pivoting back to the US, which supports the country in its maritime dispute with China.
Although the US has no territorial claim over the waters or features, but regularly conducts patrols there, solely or jointly with the Philippines, irking China.
Last week, Beijing and Manila reached a provisional agreement on resupplying missions to the Sierra Madre, a grounded Filipino ship, in the South China Sea.
The Philippines deliberately grounded the ship, the Sierra Madre, on the reef of Ren’ai Jiao (aka Second Thomas Shoal) in 1999 to reinforce its claims over disputed waters surrounding it.
Since then, Manila has maintained a small contingent of troops aboard the vessel and at Second Thomas Shoal, which has been the focus of violent clashes in recent months.
China and the Philippines also agreed to jointly manage maritime differences and de-escalate the situation in the South China Sea, amid efforts to ease maritime tensions.
On Friday, China called on the Philippines to “honor its commitments” under the deal rather than “backtracking or creating complications.”
“Otherwise, China will definitely respond resolutely,” further warned Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting with his Philippine counterpart Enrique Manalo at an ASEAN gathering in Laos.
Manalo, for his part, said he hoped that Beijing would keep its side of the bargain.
“If the parties implement, and we hope China implements the agreement, then we’ll be able to resupply our military personnel on the ship without any obstruction,” he said.
“I think that would be an important step forward in diffusing tensions and hopefully lead to other areas of cooperation on the South China Sea,” Manalo added.
The clashes between China and the Philippines over territorial claims have fueled fears of a conflict that could drag in the US due to its mutual defense treaty with Manila.
China says the Philippines has been violating its sovereignty and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), especially Article 5 which stipulates that the parties should refrain from action of inhabiting the uninhabited islands and reefs.
Back in February, China rebuked the Philippines for its unfriendly maneuvers in the South China Sea, stressing that Manila “stirs up trouble” by holding joint air patrols with “extraterritorial countries”, in an apparent reference to the US.
In 2023, The Chinese military says it monitored and drove away a US warship that had illegally entered waters around the South China Sea. It added that the US guided-missile destroyer Milius had illegally intruded into China’s territorial waters.