US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin weighed in on the most recent incident involving China on Thursday ( May 1 ), calling the damage to Philippine vessels and the injuries to their crew “irresponsible behavior” in disregard of international law.
Since Tuesday’s altercation at the contested Scarborough Shoal, where China’s beach watch used water cannons against two Philippine vessels, causing outrage from the Philippines ‘ state, Manila and Beijing have exchanged thorns almost everyday.
” We’ve been very clear to anyone, to contain Beijing, that the kind of behavior that we’ve seen, where Filipino personnel are put in danger… seamen have been injured and house damaged, that is careless behaviour”, Austin told a joint press conference in Hawaii.
According to a 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, Austin reiterated that the United States may continue to support its original town, the Philippines.
” Our devotion to the agreement is impenetrable and we stand with the Philippines”, he said after a meeting with military counterparts of the Philippines, Australia and Japan.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, who may appear alongside Austin, said it would be a “political choice” to speculate about the circumstances under which Manila may invoke the treaty.