US Navy aircraft carrier to visit Manila amid rising China tensions
A UNITED STATES Navy aircraft carrier is on its way to Manila for a port visit, according to the United States Embassy in Manila, amid rising sea tensions between China and the Philippines.
The USS Ronald Reagan is currently en route to Manila for a port visit,” US Embassy Deputy Press Attaché Glenda M. Wallace said in a Viber message. “It (aircraft) is conducting routine flight operations to maintain pilot training hours,” she added, referring to a US plane that was reported to be flying over eastern Luzon
Before heading to Philippine waters, the USS Ronald Reagan conducted flight operations in the South China Sea at the weekend, China criticized.
The nuclear-powered super carrier, which carries dozens of planes including FA-18 fighter jets and helicopters and sophisticated weapon systems, was sending a “wrong signal” to the Philippines and emboldening it to “infringe upon China’s sovereignty,” according to the Chinese state media Global Times.
China also called the US a “troublemaker” in the region.
The Philippines would eye more joint patrols and freedom of navigation missions in the South China Sea after collisions with Chinese ships at Second Tomas Shoal, Jonathan M. Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council, said on Tuesday.
The Philippines on Monday filed a diplomatic protest against China and summoned its envoy in Manila after the Oct. 22 collisions.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila on Monday said it had lodged stern representations to the Philippines over the “trespassing” of the Philippine vessels at Second Thomas Shoal.
The United States on Monday reaffirmed its 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines, which compels both sides to defend each other in case of an armed attack.
The US State Department said the Chinese vessels violated international law by “intentionally interfering with the Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation.”
China Coast Guard vessel 5203 collided with an Armed Forces of the Philippines-contracted indigenous resupply boat 13.5 nautical miles (25 kilometers) east-northeast of BRP Sierra Madre, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said on Sunday.
A Chinese maritime militia vessel had also bumped a Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessel that was escorting the resupply mission about 6.4 nautical miles northeast of the shoal, it said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
