Indo-Pacific War? US Promises to Protect Philippines in Case of Attack and Shares Real-Time Intel

As China makes threats against the Philippines’ Ayungin Shoal, also known as Second Thomas Shoal, tensions in the Indo-Pacific region are escalating. China, which claims sovereignty over the South China Sea, has asked the Philippines to remove the derelict boat BRP Sierra Madre from the contentious shoal.

The US has weighed in on the discussion, with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin assuring Gilberto Teodoro of the “ironclad nature of the US-Philippines alliance” in a statement.

The US will expand bilateral training, interoperability, and assistance for the modernisation of the Philippine military, according to Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder.

According to a report by Nikkei Asia, the US is stepping up information exchange with Manila over China’s maritime actions. The two countries are now exchanging more real-time intelligence, which will support Manila’s resupply missions.

“The Mutual Defense Treaty extends to Philippine public vessels, aircraft, and armed forces, to include those of its Coast Guard. in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea,” Austin said over the phone.

After a China Coast Guard ship fired water cannons at a Philippine boat last week, the Philippines made it plain to China that it would not withdraw the boat (which it used to establish its claim to the Ayungin Shoal, or Second Thomas Shoal). The Philippines has since firmed up its position. The ship was restocking BRP Sierra Madre with food and other necessities.

More over 1,000 kilometers separate Second Thomas Shoal from China’s closest major landmass, Hainan island, while roughly 200 kilometers (120 miles) separate it from the Philippine island of Palawan.

Beijing claimed that Manila had broken its pledge to pull the battleship away, and Manila responded by pointing fingers at Beijing. The Chinese foreign ministry said that “24 years have passed, the Philippine side has not only failed to tow away the warship but has also made extensive attempts to repair and reinforce it in order to achieve permanent occupation of the Ren’ai Reef.”

According to the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, if one of the parties is attacked militarily in the Pacific region, it will be regarded detrimental to the other’s own peace and safety and result in retaliation.

In 1999, the US-built BRP Sierra Madre was purposefully grounded in retaliation for Chinese building on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands.

China’s claims that it has historical rights in the South China Sea’s so-called nine-dash line were rejected by a tribunal in the Hague in 2016. Additionally, it said that the Second Thomas Shoal was located in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines.

China has established dominance over the region by refusing to comply by the verdict.

The European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, the UK, and Australia have all offered their support to the Philippines in this matter.