US President Joe Biden said he was committed to “deepening maritime and security ties” with Japan and the Philippines, as he sought to assure allies worried about increasingly assertive Chinese actions in disputed waters.
“The United States’ defense commitments to Japan and to the Philippines are ironclad,” Biden said on Thursday before a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the White House, their first trilateral summit.
“Any attack on Philippine aircraft, vessels or armed forces in the South China Sea would invoke our mutual defense treaty,” Biden added.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Philippines under Marcos has adopted a more assertive footing to the growing number of Chinese patrols in the South China Sea, where both nations have competing maritime claims. Tensions are centered around the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙), where Manila maintains a grounded World War-II era ship. Chinese vessels have used water cannons to block Philippine military missions that rotate and resupply troops on the ship.
Beijing yesterday responded that defense cooperation between nations should not target any specific country. Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) criticized a “certain non-regional country” for frequently sending military vessels and aircraft to the South China Sea, and gathering its allies to build “small cliques” against China.
“These acts are irresponsible and extremely dangerous,” he said.
Biden, Kishida and Marcos agreed to step up military exercises, including plans for Philippine and Japan Coast Guard members to patrol aboard a US Coast Guard vessel in the Indo-Pacific region, a joint statement released on Thursday evening said.
The nations also plan to conduct more training exercises at sea.
Maritime security topped the summit agenda following a series of incidents, including Chinese Coast Guard ships firing water cannons last month at a civilian Philippine boat. The three countries on Sunday joined Australia for military drills in the South China Sea.
“We steadfastly oppose the dangerous and coercive use of Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels in the South China Sea, as well as efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation,” the three leaders said in the joint statement.
At the White House earlier, Kishida said that “as the world faces a complex crisis, it is important that we work in a multilayered effort with like-minded countries and allies to maintain and strengthen a free and open international order based on the rule of law.”
Biden and Kishida have striven to demonstrate unity with the Philippines, part of a broader US strategy to bolster partnerships in the Indo-Pacific and encourage allies to strengthen their own ties amid growing alarm over China’s military and economic influence.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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