The United States called on China Saturday to stop "provocative and unsafe conduct" in the disputed South China Sea after a recent near-collision with a Philippines coast guard boat there, ramping up rhetoric ahead of a visit by the Filipino president to the White House.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, in a statement two days before President Joe Biden is to host his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said the incident was a reminder of China's "harassment and intimidation" of Philippine vessels in the contested waterway.