By Wu Shicun

For some time, "unilateral change of the status quo" has become a cliché of the US and some other Western countries when talking about the South China Sea disputes and other maritime and security issues in the Asia-Pacific. It has become a customary practice for these countries to label other countries while confusing right and wrong. However, no one can change the fact that "the US and some other Western countries deliberately change the status quo in the South China Sea."

"Status quo in the South China Sea" is based on facts rather than fabrication

Originally, the "status quo in the South China Sea" is China's sovereignty and sovereign rights and interests over the South China Sea islands and adjacent waters, which has been established in the course of long history. Since the late Qing Dynasty in the second half of the 19th century, Japan, France, and some other countries coveted the South China Sea. They illegally occupied the islands and reefs in the South China Sea and plundered resources there, in an attempt to change the "status quo in the South China Sea".

In November 1943, the Cairo Declaration, signed by China, the US, and the UK, made clear that "It is their purpose…that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China. " The Potsdam Proclamation, jointly issued by China, the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union in July 1945, reiterated that "Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine."

In 1946, based on the above two international legal instruments, the Chinese government restored its sovereignty over the South China Sea islands illegally occupied by Japan, and in 1948, published the Location Map of South Sea Islands . This map delineated the scope of China's claim to maritime jurisdiction in the South China Sea with an 11-dash line and indicated the geographical positions of the Dongsha, Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands. Maintaining the status quo in the South China Sea means safeguarding China's sovereignty and sovereign rights over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters.

In the mid-20th century, the Philippines, supported by the US and Vietnam backed by the Soviet Union, began to put forward territorial claims to some islands and reefs in China's Nansha Islands, and took steps to occupy them illegally by means of force, the start of their infringement on China's rights and claims to the South China Sea.

As the US and the Soviet Union withdrew their forces from the South China Sea with the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, China and ASEAN countries started to build a mechanism for managing crises and enhancing mutual trust, and signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC)  in 2002. As the first political document concerning the South China Sea issue that was signed between China and ASEAN countries, the DOC reached a consensus on what relevant parties "should do" and "should not do". In 2013, in light of changing dynamics on the sea, China and ASEAN countries started consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC), for enduring permanent peace and stability in the South China Sea.

The goal of maintaining the "status quo in the South China Sea" should be to promote the resolution of disputes in the South China Sea through friendly dialogue and consultations among the parties to the disputes. China and other parties are always committed to peaceful settlement of disputes in the South China Sea through equal-footed and friendly consultations among the direct parties to the disputes. The dual-track approach advocated by China was the best example of its efforts to safeguard the status quo in the South China Sea, which has also been recognized by neighboring countries in the South China Sea. Following this approach, China and ASEAN countries have made a series of visible early harvests, including the completion of the first and second reading of the COC draft text and the agreement on the guiding principles for early conclusion of the COC.

Who broke the status quo?

Taking China as the imaginary enemy, the US-led militarization of the South China Sea followed by its allies, is the accelerator in the changing of the status quo in the South China Sea. Utilizing the "Asia-Pacific rebalancing" and "Indo-Pacific" strategies as the vehicle, the US has geared up its forward military deployment in Southeast Asia. Since 2015, the US has significantly and substantially upgraded its military operations in the South China Sea, with much greater frequency of bilateral and multilateral joint military exercises, "freedom of navigation" operations (FONOPs), and air and sea close-in reconnaissance.

The US strives to build and lead a regional security architecture centered on the South China Sea. Small groups established in recent years, such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad) among the US, Japan, India, and Australia as well as the US-Philippines-Japan alliance and the US-Philippines-Australia alliance are cases in point of the changing status quo in the South China Sea.

The "rule-based international order" concocted by the US is essentially a cover for its hegemony. It never elaborates such fundamental issues as "what is a rule-based international order", "who defines these rules", and "the relationship between these rules and the recognized international order". In fact, these rules only serve the US hegemony and interests, and the US has the sole right to define and interpret this narrative system. An example is the US' behind-the-scenes manipulation of the South China Sea arbitration case initiated by the Philippines, a typical case of abusing the rules of modern international law and undermining the status quo in the South China Sea through legal means. 

Besides, the US and its allies are pursuing a "grey zone strategy" and disrupting maritime cooperation and ocean governance of the South China Sea. In May 2022, the Quad Leaders' Summit announced the establishment of a new Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA) , seeking to watch and curb "illegal" fishing activities of China and some other countries. The so-called crackdown on "illegal fishing activities", maritime situational awareness, and other activities are just the US' tactics of concealing its military presence behind a civilian facade. The US attempts to leverage the strengths of its allies and partners, integrate commercial resources, and set up a maritime information and intelligence network in the "Indo-Pacific" region to satisfy its hegemonic needs. This has cast a shadow of geopolitical competition on existing cooperation on fishing, environmental protection, and navigation safety in the South China Sea.

Moreover, with the change of its South China Sea policy, the US has sent a signal to some claimant countries and instigated them to take unilateral infringement actions, including control and expansion of islands and reefs, oil and gas development in disputed areas, and strengthened de facto control of maritime areas in order to expand and firm up their claims. Since 2017, some claimant countries have repeatedly carried out unilateral oil and gas activities in the contested waters. For example, Vietnam conducted landfill work and deployed facilities on the islands and reefs it illegally occupied in the South China Sea at an alarming pace.

Since 2023, the Philippines has wantonly sabotaged "temporary special arrangement" with China on Ren'ai Jiao in the Nansha Qundao and Huangyan Dao in the Zhongsha Qundao, unilaterally cut off the prior communication mechanism between the two countries on the humanitarian resupply for its illegally grounded ship in the waters of Ren'ai Jiao, and repeatedly violated the "gentleman's agreement" by carrying materials that go far beyond the scope of humanitarianism — materials that are used for the construction of fixed facilities for permanent possession of Ren'ai Jiao. Such provocative actions taken by the Marcos government to change the status quo in the South China Sea can hardly be independent from US influence.

US motive behind false labeling China as "changing the status quo in South China Sea"

By fabricating the narrative that China is posing a threat to the South China Sea, the US is attempting to dress itself up as a "defender" of fairness and justice as well as a "guardian" against "the big bullying the small" in the South China Sea, in order to induce China's neighboring countries to take sides with the US. The US has made up the fiction that China is a common challenge, a threat to the South China Sea, and a "sabotager" of the status quo of the South China Sea. The aim of these actions is to shift the blame for growing tensions in the South China Sea to China, escalate the disputes between China and ASEAN countries and bring some of them to its fold, thus making an excuse for US military deployments and actions in the South China Sea out of its geopolitical interests.

Proxy war has been an indispensable tool in recent years for the US to weaken and restrain its opponents. The US is neither a littoral state to the South China Sea nor a party to the dispute. For its special geographic location connecting major economies of the world and the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the South China Sea must be under US control if it is to maintain its military and maritime hegemony. The US is hyping up tensions caused by changing the status quo in the South China Sea, demonizing China's legitimate actions to defend its rights to the South China Sea, and creating fear among the neighboring countries and the international community of China's development of maritime power. Its aim is to drive a wedge in China's relations with ASEAN countries, especially the claimant countries, and to shape a recognition calling for the US deployment in the South China Sea.

Finally, the US is seeking legitimacy for its new alliance and partnership system to contain China's rising power on the sea. In its National Security Strategy released in 2022, the Biden administration defined China as a power with both the intention and the capacity to reshape the international order and argued that the next 10 years would be key to winning the competition against China. In the South China Sea, the US has picked up the Cold War mentality to maintain its hegemony. Claiming that China is posing a threat and changing the status quo of the South China Sea, the US has joined hands with countries inside and outside the region, including Japan, Australia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, to build mini-multi-lateral security mechanisms against China. They are deepening security cooperation, holding joint military exercises and strengthening the "island chain" strategy, to stop and prevent China from challenging the US maritime supremacy.

(The author is chairman of Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance and chairman of the Academic Committee of China's 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.