The United States and Vietnam warned on Monday against the “threat or use of force” in the disputed South China Sea, days after the latest clash involving Chinese vessels. President Joe Biden and Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong said the competing claims on the strategic waterway must be settled under international norms. Beijing claims almost the entire sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, and has ignored an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

US, Vietnam warn vs use of force. (2023, September 12). The Manila Times, pp. A1, A8.