US Senate reso urges Trump to maintain steps vs China’s WPS aggression

CONTINUING TRAINING This is how the USS John Finn and BRP Jose Rizal appeared from the JS Osumi as they patrolled the West Philippine Sea from Sept. 12 to Sept. 13. (PHOTO FROM JAPAN MARITIME SELF-DEFENSE FORCE)

MANILA, Philippines — United States senators urged President Donald Trump to continue to take “appropriate and necessary actions” in response to China’s escalatory actions in the West Philippine Sea, a move welcomed by the country’s security body on Friday.

Such a call was contained in the US Senate Resolution No. 409, introduced by Republican Senator Pete Ricketts and a bipartisan group of upper house lawmakers last Sept. 18, to reaffirm the 74-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) between Manila and Washington. 

Senate Resolution No. 409 “urges the President to continue to take appropriate and necessary actions in response to escalatory behavior of the People’s Republic of China in order to restore deterrence and help the Philippines defend itself.”

In response, National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said in a statement: “We welcome the resolution’s call for the US to take appropriate and necessary actions to counter Chinese escalation.”

Año also said the “strong and unequivocal language” of the resolution “sends a clear signal that the world is watching and the Philippines is not alone.”

The resolution cited the June 17, 2024 incident involving the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal that injured a Philippine Navy personnel as well as the August 11 collision of Chinese ships in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. 

It also rejected what the resolution referred to as China’s “coercive and destabilizing” plans to establish a so-called “national nature reserve” at Panatag Shoal, a move that came almost a month after the collision there which Philippine authorities said led to four Chinese coast guard personnel falling overboard.

Such moves of Beijing, the resolution said, was “a direct assault” on Manila’s territorial integrity.

Beijing’s assertion of sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, but the landmark 2016 international ruling effectively dismissed this in favor of Manila’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.

China’s use of  lasers, water cannons, and ramming attempts against Filipino navy and Coast Guard personnel has led to the calls for review of MDT. 

 Signed on August 30, 1951, the MDT between Manila and Washington calls for each other’s defense in case of an “armed attack.” /gsg