U.S. officials have reaffirmed their commitment to defending the Philippines from the ongoing territorial dispute with China over an island in the South China Sea.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter personally told Voltaire Gazmin, the Philippine secretary for defense, on Wednesday that the country is committed to keeping its "ironclad" promise of protecting the Philippines and other states in the Pacific region, according to the Agence France Presse.
During the talks between the two secretaries, the Pentagon chief proclaimed that the ties between the two countries are stronger than ever and also discussed the continuing argument between Beijing and the Philippines over contested waters in the South China Sea.
Carter is set to embark on a tour around Asia in the midst of rising tension among the Asian countries as China continues to do reclamation work around the South China Sea to construct man-made buildings and roads.
Despite the threats made by Beijing, Manila declared that it will continue to fly over in disputed areas over the South China Sea, even going as far as taking part on a groundbreaking naval exercise with Japan, which was presumed to be a counter against China.
China has been doing extended reclamation work over in the South China Sea, building numerous man-made islands above existing reefs at a very fast pace, in an effort to support it's territorial claims.
Just last week, China commanded a U.S. aircraft that had been surveiling the Spratly Islands to leave the area, to which the U.S. responded by claiming that they had done nothing wrong because they were flying above international airspace.
For months, China has strongly insisted that they have every right to control all of the islands near the coastal areas of Vietnam, the Philippines and other Asian regions.
Both China and the Philippines have been at loggerheads for years over the Scarborough Shoal in particular, where the former has been in control of it ever since it drove away Filipino fishermen from the shoal back in 2012.
