US Shouldn't Try To Change China, Beijing Says

Washington should not seek to change Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Monday, on the heels of a standoff between Chinese and U.S. treaty ally, the Philippines, in a contentious part of the South China Sea.

China, which claims most of the energy-rich, strategically important sea, on Friday sent two dozen coast guard and marine militia ships to attempt to obstruct a Philippine Coast Guard mission en route to resupply a small contingent of Philippine marines based in a grounded ship off the uninhabited Second Thomas Shoal.

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are preparing for a long-delayed meeting on Wednesday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' forum in San Francisco. China's maritime aggression near the Philippines, one of the oldest American allies in the region, is among the issues Biden is expected to raise with his counterpart, along with the restoration of leadership-level communication between the two countries' militaries.

Responding to a senior White House official's recent acknowledgment that the U.S.' decades-long attempts to reform China have failed, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday: "China doesn't seek to change the U.S., nor should the US seek to shape or change China, she said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to Newsweek's request for comment.

"China will neither take any inch of territory that is not ours, nor give up any inch of territory that belongs to us," Mao said referencing the South China Sea dispute. She said the U.S. has been using the issue as an excuse to get involved and "encircle" China.

China has continued to disregard the international Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling in the 2016 case Philippines v. China, which dismissed the latter's sweeping claims that have also brought it into territorial disputes with Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam.

Second Thomas Shoal sits about 620 miles from China's southernmost province of Hainan. The feature is situated some 120 miles from the Philippine island of Palawan and within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, which means that the country alone has the right to exploit resources beneath the surface of the sea.

In recent weeks, Washington has on multiple occasions made a point of expressing support for its oldest Asian ally, with whom it shares a mutual defense treaty.

The State Department reaffirmed the 72-year-old defense treaty, which Biden last month called "ironclad" extends to attacks on Philippine assets operating "anywhere in the South China Sea."

"The U.S. stands shoulder-to-shoulder with our Philippine ally in the face of the People's Republic of China's repeated harassment in the South China Sea," a U.S. State Department statement said Friday. It added that some of the maneuvers Chinese boats were recorded on video performing that day, including encircling and weaving in front of Philippine vessels, were part of "a pattern of dangerous operational behavior in the South China Sea.

Late month, The U.S. sent nuclear-capable B-52s past the southern tip of the Southeast Asian country after Philippine and Chinese ships collided during another supply mission to Second Thomas Shoal.