The gray zone
Article 5 of the 1951 mutual defense treaty states that an armed attack—which would compel one partner to come to the defense of the other—includes an "armed attack on a metropolitan territory of either of the parties or on the Island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific Ocean, its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific." The recent incident when China coastguard attacked and robbed a Phil. Navy vessel with axes knives and spears may well fall within the Article 5 of the mutual defense treaty. In recent separate pronouncement however, by Marcos and Sec. Austin, the attack must result to a dead Filipino before the treaty can be invoke, which in my opinion had changed the context of the provision. This seems to indicate that the US has no keen intention of confronting China for the South China sea or the West Philippine Sea. It is more apparent that all the preparations and prepositioning in the Pacific by the US forces are intended primarily for t