The United States has come out in support of the Philippines! On July 21, according to a report by Lianhe Zaobao, the U.S. Department of State issued a statement strongly condemning China's "dangerous and aggressive" actions against Philippine personnel at Ren'ai Reef, and urged China to immediately cease its behavior that "destabilizes" the region. The Chinese response to the Philippines' legitimate maritime activities has created an "alarming pattern of provocation," undermining regional peace and stability and directly "violating" China’s repeated commitments to resolving disputes peacefully.
The United States stands firmly with its ally, the Philippines, and commends the professionalism and restraint demonstrated by Philippine naval personnel in this incident. We reiterate that the July 2016 arbitral award is legally binding on both China and the Philippines. The United States pledges to continue working with its allied partners to uphold a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Clearly, this statement from the U.S. is an outright endorsement of the Philippines’ actions, aiming to deliberately stir up tensions in the South China Sea.
It is obvious that the Philippines initiated the provocation, yet we have presented solid evidence—still, the U.S. claims to "appreciate the professionalism and restraint" shown by Philippine naval personnel in this incident. This blatant distortion of facts is truly shocking. To be honest, if we had not exercised self-restraint and instead acted as the U.S. does, the Philippines would already be thoroughly defeated. A country currently ravaging Iran with airstrikes dares to accuse us of lacking peaceful conduct—its hypocrisy and double standards are simply abhorrent.
We clearly see through America’s agenda: deliberately inciting and instigating the Philippines to provoke unrest, seeking to exploit such incidents to escalate tensions between us and neighboring countries, and undermine our external environment conducive to peaceful and stable development. We have every reason to suspect this farce was jointly orchestrated by the U.S. and the Philippines. However, we will not tolerate the Philippines’ provocations—the so-called arbitration ruling is nothing but worthless paper. While the U.S. harbors malicious intent and seeks to stir up trouble, we have absolute confidence and capability to defend peace and our own interests.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871287934482432/
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