US Says It Will Defend Ally in South China Sea

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to honor the 2016 decision that overruled its territorial claims in the South China Sea. The top American diplomat added that the U.S. is required to defend the Philippines if its forces, ships or aircraft come under attack in the disputed waters. Blinken's statement was released Tuesday by the U.S. Embassy in Manila. It came on the sixth anniversary of a 2016 ruling under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea by a court based in The Hague. In 2013, the Philippine government complained about China's increasingly aggressive…