New Delhi: Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines in his talk with his counterpart Teodoro Locsin as tension continues to rise over the massing of People’s Republic of China maritime militia vessels(which Beijing claims are just fishing boats) in the South China Sea, including near Whitsun/Juan Felipe Reef. Meanwhile, France has led the ‘La Pérouse’ naval exercises with Quad members U.S., Japan, India, and Australia from April 5-7 in the Bay of Bengal.
On ‘Talking Point’, Justice Antonio T. Carpio (Retd), Former Senior Associate Justice, four-time Acting Chief Justice of the Philippines Supreme Court and one of the legal luminaries who secured the victory over China at the international arbitral tribunal in The Hague and Dr. Frédéric Grare, Senior Policy Fellow with the Asia Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, an expert on Indo-Pacific dynamics and maritime security discuss Beijing’s playbook, France, the Quad, the U.S-Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty, international law and countries increasingly coming together in a bid to counteract China’s aggression in this conversation with StratNews Global Associate Editor Amitabh P. Revi.
