Biden Administration Upholds Trump’s Rejection of Chinese Maritime Claims in the South China Sea

Screenshot via CBS.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Sunday that the U.S. does not support China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea, reaffirming the policy detailed by Donald Trump‘s Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

“Nowhere is the rules-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea,” Blinken said. “The People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to coerce and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal states, threatening freedom of navigation in this critical global throughway.”

The statement was released ahead of the fifth anniversary of an international tribunal ruling in favor of the Philippines and rejecting China’s claims as “having no basis in international law.”

Last year, Pompeo supported the ruling and additionally said that the administration regarded virtually all of China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea as illegitimate.

Prior to Pompeo’s policy, the U.S. had supported resolving China’s maritime disputes via U.N. arbitration.

Blinken said the U.S. reaffirms the policy laid out last year, and also reaffirms “that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft in the South China Sea would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.”

That article requires both countries to assist each other in case of an attack.

He continued, “We call on the PRC to abide by its obligations under international law, cease its provocative behavior, and take steps to reassure the international community that it is committed to the rules-based maritime order that respects the rights of all countries, big and small.”

China had rejected the tribunal ruling and reacted angrily after Pompeo’s announcement. It is expected to rebuke Blinken’s statement as well.