US backs PH over China despite reef pullout

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States said Monday it backed Manila's freedom of navigation in the South China Sea after a Philippine ship left a flash point reef, leading Beijing to declare "indisputable sovereignty."

"There's no legal basis for the PRC's maritime claims in the South China Sea and the dangerous ways in which it attempts to enforce those claims put Filipino lives and livelihood at risk," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, using the official name for the People's Republic of China.