By Ding Duo
On October 22, 2023, in accordance with the law, Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels intercepted Philippine ships into the adjacent waters of Ren'ai Jiao (Reef) in China's Nansha Qundao (Islands) without permission, in an attempt to illegally deliver construction materials to the illegally grounded warship. In disregard of the warnings of the CCG vessels, the Philippine vessels went headlong towards Ren'ai Jiao's lagoon and bumped dangerously with the CCG ships conducting law enforcement on the scene and the Chinese fishing vessels having normal fishing activities there. The Philippines' irresponsible risky and provocative actions violated China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, seriously broke the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, and threatened the navigation safety of normally operated Chinese fishing boats and CCG vessels which carried out normal law enforcement.
The historical background, origin and development of the Ren'ai Jiao issue are very clear. As an integral part of China's Nansha Qundao, Ren'ai Jiao was included in the "Kalayaan Island Group" illegally established by the Philippines in the Nansha Qundao. In 1999, the Philippines sent the tank landing ship BRP Sierra Madre (LT-57) to intrude on the Ren'ai Jiao and illegally "grounded" in the reef under the pretext of "technical breakdown". China immediately lodged stern representations with the Philippines. Although the Philippines promised to remove the ship, it has been delayed till today. In September 2003, the then Philippine Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Franklin Ebdalin said that the Philippines had no intention to construct facilities on Ren'ai Jiao and that, as a signatory to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), the Philippines had no desire to and would not to be the first to violate the Declaration.
However, for more than 20 years, the Philippines failed to keep its promise and continuously adopted reinforcement measures, not only explicitly regarding the Ren'ai Jiao as its own territory in internal government memoranda and correspondence between senior government officials, but also publicly declaring that the "grounded" ship will be deployed on the Ren'ai Jiao as a permanent facility. There is also an irrefutable objective fact that since the 1970s, the Philippines has illegally occupied islands and reefs of China's Nansha Qundao by force, in violation of international law, the UN Charter and basic norms governing international relations.
Over the past few months, the South China Sea region has not become "more assertive made by China" as portrayed by the Philippines, on the contrary, the Philippines itself is becoming more provocative and adventurous. The Philippines falsely claims that China has interfered with its right to navigate to the Ren'ai Jiao and its adjacent waters, prevented the Philippines from rotating and providing supplies and endangered the health of the Philippine personnel stationed on the ship reflect the Philippines' illegal attempts to stay in Chinese territory for a long time. The Philippines repeated provocations on the Ren'ai Jiao and Huangyan Island have not only seriously betrayed the political mutual trust between China and the Philippines, broken the pragmatic and proper arrangements at sea, but also undermined the favorable atmosphere for China and ASEAN countries to jointly implement the DOC and speed up consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. It is undeniable that this will have negative impacts and spillover effects on the proper management of maritime differences between China and the Philippines, the right direction of bilateral relations and the stability in the South China Sea.
The current speculative mentality of the Philippines to tussle with China on the South China Sea issue is closely related to the US. The Biden Administration has invested a lot of resources and energy to enhance the synergy of the US-Philippines alliance and systematically played up the so-called external security threat to induce the Marcos Jr. Administration to be more assertive on the South China Sea issue.
According to the consensus reached by the Heads of State of China and the Philippines, maritime issues do not comprise the sum-total of relations between the two countries and agreed to appropriately manage differences through peaceful means. For the Philippines, it is more worth thinking over how to restrain the unprofessional and dangerous actions of its maritime forces, how to view China's restraint in handling the relevant situation, how to avoid escalation of conflicts through bilateral direct communication channels and mechanisms, and how to understand China's principles and position and the flexibility and goodwill China has shown on the Ren'ai Jiao and Huangyan Island over the years, how to draw valuable historical experience from the ups and downs of the situation in the South China Sea and the twists and turns of China-Philippines relations in the past decade than how to fight the "South China Sea perception war" with China.
(The author is deputy director of the Research Centre for Oceans Law and Policy, National Institute for South China Sea Studies)
Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
