00:00So a lot of incidents in Scarborough Shoal this week mentioned it earlier in your speech,
00:05but how concerning is it, the dangerous maneuvers of China,
00:08and also the presence of two warships, two U.S. Navy warships also needed.
00:13So the question on the warship, the U.S. warship,
00:16Sophia addressed that first.
00:19That is a freedom of navigation operation, what we call a FANAC,
00:23and the United States Navy has always made it very clear,
00:28and the United States military overall,
00:31that we will fly, sail, and operate anywhere that international law allows.
00:37And that's called straits passage or innocent passage in this case.
00:42It wasn't through a strait, but innocent passage through,
00:47whether it's through territorial seas or through the high seas,
00:50all vessels are entitled to innocent passage.
00:56And that kind of innocent passage is essential,
00:59whether it's, and our warships do it,
01:01to demonstrate that commercial vessels also must enjoy that same right under international law.
01:09There are trillions of dollars worth of commerce
01:11that pass through the West Philippians Sea, the South China Sea,
01:15and the Taiwan Strait.
01:16So exercising those freedom of navigation operations is essential to demonstrating to the world
01:23that the United States takes very seriously our obligation to uphold and defend international law of the sea.
01:30And with regard to what happened this week on, that was on the, on August 11th,
01:37near Scarborough's show, Bajo de Masaluc,
01:40that was just absolutely shocking.
01:43The video was outrageous to see.
01:46Unfortunately, that type of aggressive behavior out in the West Philippine Sea by China
01:53is, is, is not, uh, unusual.
01:57We've seen shouldering and ramming and harbor canning.
02:01Uh, we've seen, uh, the use of military-grade lasers.
02:05Virtually every month since I arrived here in, you know, three years ago.
02:11I mean, there may have been some periods where it was toned down,
02:13but, uh, that was what we saw on video.
02:17That this type of activity is happening outside of Cameron Range all the time.
02:22When, simply because your fisher foe, or your Coast Guard, uh, has some loss of life,
02:29uh, in that collision by the PLA Navy vessel and the Chinese Coast Guard vessel,
02:35we, we, we are certainly lament that any loss of life that may have occurred.
02:39I was very, uh, heartened to see that the Philippine Coast Guard, uh,
02:44offered to render assistance immediately.
02:47Uh, they weren't taken up on that offer.
02:49The Philippine Coast Guard, uh, operates very professionally in the, uh, in, uh,
02:55in the high seas and in the, uh, waters under their jurisdiction and, in, in waters where
03:00they enjoy, uh, sovereign rights.
03:02So, we were dismayed to see that this type of aggressive activity, you know, illegal, coercive,
03:08aggressive and incentive activities in part of China continue to occur.
03:13Very sorry for the collision and very hopeful that perhaps this will be a, uh, a watershed
03:20event that could lead to ratcheting down some of these aggressive actions out in the West.
03:26So, Ambassador, just to clarify, with regard to the two warships, was that coincidental?
03:31That it happened immediately after the incident with the Chinese?
03:35I'm not, I'm not going to get into any specifics, uh, on the part, uh, of what the West, uh, what the, uh,
03:41what the, uh, Seventh Fleet does and what we, uh, our, our operations out of Endo Pecum are highly coordinated,
03:47and they do, uh, operate on a very, uh, specific schedule.
03:51Uh, but in terms of the timing, I'm, I'm not going to second guess, uh, what was, uh, what
03:56was happening now.
03:57Okay, but definitely coordinated with the Philippine government.
04:00The, the, the rules of, uh, of freedom of navigation operations are very, uh, well established
04:07at Endo Pecum.
04:08All right.
04:09All right.
04:10All right.
04:11All right.
04:12All right.
04:13All right.
04:14All right.
04:15All right.
04:16All right.
04:17All right.
04:18All right.
04:19All right.
04:20Well, I, again, we had U.S. naval vessels sailing through that area.
04:26The presence of a naval vessel in and of itself is not, um, necessarily problematic.
04:32It's the illegal force of aggressive and deceptive backholds on behalf of those vessels, on the
04:39part of those vessels, whether they're white holes or gray holes, that makes the activity
04:43dangerous and respiratory and, and, uh, uncalled for and illegal under international law.
04:50So with that, thank you so much for being here.
04:52Really appreciate it.
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