Washington will defend treaty ally the Philippines if its forces are attacked in the South China Sea, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said, urging China to follow international law and cease "provocative behaviour" in the busy waterway.
Blinken made the comments on Monday, the sixth anniversary of a ruling by an international tribunal that invalidated China's sweeping claims to the South China Sea, a conduit for about $3 trillion worth of ship-borne trade each year.
"We re-affirm that an armed attack on Philippine armed forces ... would invoke US mutual defence commitments," Blinken said in a statement, referring to the provisions of a mutual defence treaty between the allies dating from 1951.
