US repeats warning to China against attack on Philippine forces

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters): The United States on Sunday evening (July 11) repeated a warning to China that an attack on Philippine armed forces in the South China Sea would trigger a 1951 US-Philippines mutual defence treaty.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the comment in a written statement marking the fifth anniversary of a ruling by an arbitration tribunal repudiating China's vast territorial claims in the South China Sea.