2024-04-12 05:52:19
The warning is aimed at Beijing: Joe Biden promises to defend the Philippines in the event of an attack in the South China Sea. The American president spoke on the sidelines of an unprecedented trilateral summit with Japan, but especially the Philippines. In recent months, tensions between Beijing and Manila have reached levels not seen in years due to a series of incidents near disputed reefs. Two collisions between Chinese and Filipino ships were recorded. China was quick to react to the American president’s comments.
Published on: 04/12/2024 – 07:52
3 mn
With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde
The People’s Liberation Army’s rings in the water are back on the screens of central television in Chine and on social media via state media accounts.
Chinese naval maneuvers have taken place in recent days in the South China Sea, facing common exercises United States, Japan and Philippines in the area. And then, this Friday morning, April 12, Chinese Coast Guard Ship 2502 came to patrol the disputed waters of Diaoyu/Senkaku Island in the East China Sea. Maneuver qualified as “ legitimate » pour « defend the rights and interests of China », according to the authorities cited by the Xinhua agency.
For the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, the strengthening of the alliance between the United States and the archipelago constitutes a “threat to regional peace and stability”.
Also listen: China Sea: how the Philippines is organizing the response to Beijing
A strengthening of the alliance that would give wings to Manila
This message is echoed in chorus by the army of nationalist Internet users who woke up to last night’s tripartite communiqué United States, Japan, Philippines. There, the terms are even more virulent and much less diplomatic: “I feel like Biden is walking his dogs,” we read on the Weibo network – allusion to the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and to the Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos gathered in Washington. Or : ” We must test the loyalty of America’s allies by attacking the Philippines and Japan first ».
An F-18E fighter jet prepares to take off from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on Thursday, April 11, 2024, during a three-day joint naval exercise between the United States, Japan and South Korea in the Sea of Eastern China. AP – Mari Yamaguchi
This strengthening of the alliance between the United States, Japan and the Philippines risks giving wings to Manila, Chinese state media suggest. « Ce which could reopen Pandora’s box of a new round of island occupation by some countries in the South China Sea and would have a negative impact on regional peace and stability,” says Lei Xiaolu, professor of law at the China Institute of Border and Ocean Studies at Wuhan University, quoted by Huanqiu Shibao.
A response from Chinese diplomacy should still come this Friday afternoon during the regular press briefing organized by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “ The United States and Japan, disregarding China’s serious concerns, have defamed and attacked China over Taiwan and maritime issues », Declared the ministry spokesperson on Thursday.
Also listen Indo-Pacific: “Japan has become a very important player in the United States’ strategy”
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