US Vice-President Kamala Harris on November 22, 2022, visited a Philippine island near disputed South China Sea waters to show support for Manila’s “sovereignty”. Harris is the highest-ranking US official to visit the western island of Palawan, the closest Philippine island to the contested Spratly archipelago. Beijing asserts sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea and has ignored a 2016 international court ruling that rebuked its claims based on historic rights. .