regional countries should be especially vigilant against provocations by the philippines and the united states in the south china sea
2024-09-01
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samuel paparo, commander of the u.s. indo-pacific command, recently declared that, subject to consultations between the united states and the philippines, u.s. ships can escort philippine ships carrying out supply missions in the south china sea. philippine defense minister teodoro called for a "broader interpretation" of the philippine-u.s. mutual defense treaty. this kind of singing the same tune once again exposed the philippines' impulse to further intensify maritime conflicts and promote escalation of frictions at the instigation of the united states. the philippine defense minister also called on regional countries to take action against china, but in fact, what regional countries really need to guard against is the impact of the provocative words and deeds of the philippines and the united states on the peace and stability of the south china sea.the us-philippines mutual defense treaty is a product of the cold war, and the relevant disputes between china and the philippines have nothing to do with the united states. from time to time, the united states puts the implementation of the us-philippines mutual defense treaty on the table. on the one hand, it endorses the philippines' illegal claims and provocations in the south china sea, and on the other hand, it attempts to maintain the stability of the us-philippines alliance and control the direction of the alliance relationship through the "appeasement mechanism." this approach of the united states certainly cannot threaten china, but it will trigger the philippines' fear of being "abandoned," thereby inhibiting manila's willingness to seek other options to resolve the problem. the united states uses this to prevent the philippines' foreign policy decisions from seriously deviating from the us strategic track, but it will not really take manila to heart on issues concerning interests.the philippines has reflected on this in recent years. in 2019, the then philippine defense minister lorenzana publicly stated that the increasing frequency of us warships in the south china sea made it more likely that the united states would use the name of the philippines to get involved in a hot war, but that was not what the philippines actually wanted. the words were still fresh in our ears, and the marcos government tied the philippines to the chariot of the united states. its actions not only threatened the peace and stability of the south china sea, but also intensified the militarization of the philippines and the entire region. in fact, the marcos government's constant small moves in xianbin reef, ren'ai reef, huangyan island and other places are also testing the extent of the so-called commitment and support of the united states. it is not even ruled out that there is an intention to reversely kidnap the united states by provoking friction.judging from its usual infringing methods, the philippines may continue to try illegal replenishment in the future, while spreading false information to deceive the domestic public and mislead the international community. however, this practice of testing china's bottom line of maintaining territorial sovereignty through prepared and planned "sea disturbances" will only bring shame upon itself. the situation at xianbin reef is the latest proof. the measures currently taken by china are still restrained, professional and relatively mild, but they are enough to make the philippines "unbearable". if the philippines insists on continuing its provocations, it will definitely face more stringent local control measures.in response to the recent maritime incidents between china and the philippines, the united states not only mentioned the us-philippines mutual defense treaty, but also repeatedly talked about the "rules-based order". the "rules dispute" is one aspect of the game and interaction between china and the united states on maritime issues, which includes the interpretation of international maritime law rules and norms such as the united nations convention on the law of the sea and general international law, as well as the influence and shaping power on relevant agreements, institutional systems and even legal order in the south china sea region. it can be seen from the us state department statement and the relevant remarks of us senior officials that the united states has long forgotten the historical context and the right and wrong of the south china sea issue.driven by the cold war and hegemonic thinking, the united states has slandered china's efforts to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights as "undermining rules and order". in terms of legal theory, it has endorsed the south china sea as the so-called "international commons" by rehashing the illegal ruling of the "south china sea arbitration case". in terms of security, it has attempted to instigate the philippines to "confront china" through joint military exercises, cruises and other military activities. in terms of politics, it has attempted to sow discord between china and the parties to the dispute through controversial issues and to magnify the impact of controversial issues on regional bilateral and multilateral cooperation. in terms of public opinion, it has deliberately created the illusion of "the international community versus china" and "the community versus the individual" in an attempt to control the discourse on the south china sea agenda.judging from historical experience and regional practice, the united states has used the south china sea disputes to sow discord between the countries concerned, used the ocean as a place to promote unilateral power and provoke "great power competition", and pieced together a closed and exclusive "small group", trying to lead southeast asia onto the evil path of group politics and camp confrontation. the united states has used the overlapping "mini-multilateral" mechanisms to contain and deter china, which is likely to lead to the escalation of maritime conflicts and frictions and the gathering of military forces in the south china sea. the philippines has tried to win over major powers outside the region to endorse its own selfish interests, which will not only make it suffer the consequences, but the related negative impact will also spill over to the regional level. this is something that asean countries must be particularly vigilant about and resist.as the largest coastal country in the south china sea, it is necessary for china to take effective measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests. in the past few weeks, the philippines has tried every means to resupply its coast guard ships that have illegally stayed in the lagoon at xianbin reef, but failed. this is the result of china's effective control. after each maritime friction, china has taken the initiative to release information in order to reveal the truth of the incident to the international community and expose the face of the philippines as an infringer, provocateur and troublemaker. the comprehensive measures taken by china's maritime forces have responded strongly to the philippines' continuous practice of creating trouble and have had a great deterrent effect. the philippines should be able to more intuitively feel china's strong will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty, and asean countries should also be able to see china's firm determination to maintain the seriousness of the "declaration on the conduct of parties in the south china sea". (the author is the deputy director of the institute of marine law and policy of the china institute of south china sea studies)▲
