U.S. Rebukes China For ‘Intimidation and Coercion’ in South China Sea

Vice President Kamala Harris pledged U.S. support to the Philippines against Chinese assertiveness in a speech from the edge of the South China Sea on Tuesday. Harris, the most senior Biden administration official to visit the Philippines so far, told her Filipino hosts that Washington would stand with Manila “in the face of intimidation and coercion in the South China Sea.” She also reaffirmed U.S. backing for the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s 2016 ruling in Philippines v. China, “which delivered a unanimous and final decision firmly rejecting China’s expansive South China Sea maritime claims.” “The tribunal’s decision is legally binding…