'No Country in the World' Backs Beijing's Claims in South China Sea—US Ally

China is alone in its belief that the Philippines is the instigator in the two countries' escalating South China Sea territorial feud, the Philippines' defense chief has said.

"In truth and in fact, no country in the world—none—supports unequivocally their claim to the whole of the South China Sea," Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. remarked at the handover ceremony of a Japanese air surveillance radar system on Wednesday, per local news outlet ABS-CBN.

China claims dominion over most of most of the energy-rich waterway, despite an international tribunal's 2016 decision that these claims violated the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. China has called on its Southeast Asian neighbor, a U.S. treaty ally, not to be a geopolitical pawn of Washington.

Many nations have expressed support for the Philippines' right to resources within its exclusive economic zone and other areas under its territorial jurisdiction, Teodoro added, responding to a Chinese Foreign Ministry remark that the Southeast Asian country was entirely at fault for recent confrontations between the two countries.

"The recent events between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea are caused by deliberate infringement of China's sovereignty and the provocations of the Philippines," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said when asked about Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos' characterization of the diplomatic relationship with the world's second-largest economy as moving "in a poor direction."

"The responsibility lies with the Philippines. We will resolutely protect our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," Wang said Tuesday.

The statements come after rising tensions in the sea in recent weeks, including alleged "swarming" by China's maritime militia in the Philippines' EEZ and another round of collisions and near misses resulting from China's increasingly assertive blockades of supply missions to the Spratlys' Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan also have competing claims in the contested waterway. None, however, are pushing back as hard as the Philippines under the Marcos administration.

The Marcos administration has been pursuing a "name and shame" policy of filming and bringing journalists aboard official resupply missions to contentious Philippine outposts in the Spratly Islands.

Wang said the dispute does not define his country's relations with the Philippines and that Beijing hopes the latter will honor its alleged commitment to "properly handling disputes through dialogue and consultation and working to "jointly safeguard peace and stability in the region."

The Chinese embassy in the Philippines did not immediately respond to Newsweek's written request for comment.

A number of countries, as well as the G7, responded to the latest confrontations with calls for respect for international maritime law in the South China Sea, with some blasting China's behavior as aggressive, illegal, and unsafe.

The U.S. views the Philippines as its oldest ally in Asia. President Joe Biden and other administration officials have stressed the two countries' Mutual Defense Treaty is "ironclad," and an attack on Philippine assets anywhere, including the South China Sea, would trigger an American intervention.

Japan, which has its own territorial dispute with China, has been seeking to shore up defense cooperation with the Philippines recently, including a proposed military-to-military mutual access program.

"Japan also opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, as well as any actions that increase tensions in the South China Sea," Japanese defense official Osamu Nishiwaki said at Wednesday's ceremony in San Fernando, La Union, per reports.