The US administration has upheld a Trump-era rejection of nearly all of China’s significant maritime claims in the South China Sea. Five years ago today, the Philippines scored an important victory for the rule of the law in the South China Sea. Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the ruling last year, Donald Trump’s administration also said it regarded virtually all Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea outside China’s internationally recognised waters as illegitimate. “Nowhere is the rules-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea,” Mr Blinken said, using language similar Mr Pompeo. China claims almost all of the South China Sea and routinely objects to any action by the US military in the region.

Source: Irish Independent July 12, 2021 07:07 UTC