The United States has reaffirmed its support for the Philippines amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemning what he described as China’s “destabilising plans” for Scarborough Shoal.
Speaking on Friday, Rubio rejected Beijing’s latest claim that it intends to designate the contested atoll as a nature reserve, calling it another coercive manoeuvre to advance sweeping territorial ambitions at the expense of neighbouring states.
Filipino fishermen have expressed deep concern that China’s proposal could further restrict their already limited access to the rich fishing grounds around the shoal, which has been under the watchful presence of Chinese coastguard and maritime militia vessels for over a decade.
Scarborough Shoal, also known locally as Panatag Shoal, lies well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone but has been effectively controlled by Beijing since a tense maritime standoff in 2012.
The dispute over Scarborough is part of a much broader contest in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which more than three trillion dollars’ worth of global trade passes each year.
China claims almost the entire sea under its so-called “nine-dash line,” a claim that overlaps with the maritime zones of several Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
The sweeping assertion of sovereignty was dealt a blow in 2016, when an international tribunal in The Hague ruled that China’s claims had no legal basis and that it had unlawfully barred Filipino fishermen from Scarborough. Beijing has refused to recognise the ruling.
Rubio said China’s defiance of international law threatened regional peace and stability, urging Beijing to comply with the arbitral tribunal’s unanimous decision.
“The United States stands firmly with the Philippines as it faces these coercive actions,” he said, reiterating Washington’s long-standing security commitments under the Mutual Defence Treaty of 1951.
Manila responded by highlighting its growing defence ties with allies. On Saturday, the Philippines announced that its navy had sailed with the US Indo-Pacific Command and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force in waters off Zambales province, whose coastline lies roughly 120 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal. The show of unity underscored a broader push to expand joint patrols and strengthen regional deterrence in the face of Chinese assertiveness.
China, for its part, dismissed the manoeuvres. State media reported that Manila had conducted a “joint patrol” in the South China Sea with unnamed “countries outside the region,” a phrase Beijing has frequently used to criticise US and allied involvement in the contested waters.
The standoff over Scarborough Shoal highlights the volatility of the South China Sea dispute.
For the Philippines, the shoal is not only a matter of sovereignty but also of livelihoods for coastal communities whose access to traditional fishing grounds remains under constant threat.
For Washington, it represents a crucial test of its commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and international law in one of the world’s most strategically significant maritime regions.
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