US slams China’s ‘irresponsible behavior’ in South China Sea

MANILA, Philippines — Damage to Philippine vessels and injuries to their crew in the South China Sea constitute “irresponsible behavior” in disregard of international law, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday, weighing in on the latest flare-up involving China.

Manila and Beijing have traded barbs almost daily since Tuesday’s confrontation at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, where ships of the China Coast Guard blasted two Philippine vessels with water cannons, prompting outrage from its government.

“We’ve been very clear to everyone, to include Beijing, that the kind of behavior that we’ve seen, where Filipino crews are put in danger... sailors have been injured and property damaged, that is irresponsible behavior,” Austin told a joint press conference in Hawaii.

Austin reiterated the US would continue to support its former colony the Philippines, as outlined in a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.

“Our commitment to the treaty is ironclad and we stand with the Philippines,” he said after a meeting with defense counterparts of the Philippines, Australia and Japan.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro refused to speculate about the conditions in which Manila might invoke the treaty, saying that would be a “political decision.”

The treaty binds the two countries to defend each other in the event of attack, including in the South China Sea, upping the stakes in a long-running battle for power that has seen China double-down in asserting its territorial claim over most of the waterway, a key global trade route.

Appearing alongside Austin, Teodoro said the treaty allies were committed to building capacity and deterrence to ensure no situation emerged that would require the treaty to be invoked.

“We need to assert our rights, but in a manner that safeguards the safety of each and every member of the Philippines’ armed force,” Teodoro added.

The US lays no claims to the South China Sea, but has deployed Navy ships and fighter jets in what it calls freedom of navigation operations that have challenged China’s claims to virtually the entire waterway. The US says freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters is in America’s national interest.

Aside from China and