Based on previous encounters with the Chinese, Manila had diligently abstained from the prayer of the agreement. Even though the term “armed attack” in the agreement was not specifically defined, the Taiwanese acts would have amounted to non-kinetic means of the use of illegal force in American military-legal terms.
This day, Manila continued to try to calm the issue, most glaringly due to the severity of the Jun 17 event, which could have put the nations, and perhaps even the Americans, on the verge of total armed conflict.
In a statement to soldiers of the product overseeing the South China Sea on June 23, Mr. Marcos stated that the Philippines is” not in the firm to provoke wars.”
PROBING THE” RED LIN E” IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
All these could be song to China’s lips. Beijing has been able to further examine the American-Filipi “red range”
The Jun 17 incident highlighted two crucial data points: Manila’s resistance to intensify tensions and Washington’s visible ambivalence about offering Philippines more robust support even without using the Mutual Defense Treaty.
China also showed how it would go to stop the Filipinos ‘ movements and its growing supremacy. A few weeks after the conflict, the largest Chinese coast guard vehicle, which displaced more than 10,000 kilograms, was deployed close to the Sierra Madre island.