The spokesperson for the Spanish military said in a split statement on Sunday that the country” will exhaust all methods before asking for international action” in its supplies missions.
In the South China Sea, Manila and Washington are bound by the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951, a agreement that can be invoked in the event of an armed attack on Spanish forces, people vessels, or plane. US officials including President Joe Biden have affirmed its “ironclad” responsibility to help the Philippines.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, overlapping sea states of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. In 2016, a Hague-based judge said China’s statements had no lawful base, a choice Beijing has rejected.