By Hua Zhang

The foreign ministers of the US, Japan, Australia and India held their quadrilateral security dialogue, the Quad, in Tokyo on July 29. The joint statement released after the dialogue, though not mentioning China, expressed serious concern about the situation in the South China Sea and "about the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea".

Just as China and the Philippines reached provisional arrangements regarding the situation in the Ren'ai Jiao and mitigated the tension, the sudden interest of the four Quad members in the South China Sea is actually out of their ulterior motives.

China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Xiaodong and Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Theresa Lazaro co-chaired the 9th meeting of the China-Philippines Bilateral Consultation Mechanism (BCM) on the South China Sea in Manila on July 2. Both sides acknowledged that maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea serves the interests of both countries and is a common goal across the region. They agreed to continue dialogue and consultation through mechanisms like the BCM to manage contradictions and differences.

On July 22, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson announced that China and the Philippines reached provisional arrangements on managing the situation at Ren'ai Jiao. Five days later, the Joint Communique of the 57 ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting underscored the importance of the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) in its entirety and welcomed the progress achieved so far in the ongoing negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea(COC).

Clearly, the tension at Ren'ai Jiao has been greatly alleviated thanks to the joint efforts of China and the Philippines. ASEAN members also hope to further stabilize the situation through the full and effective implementation of the DOC and the accelerated consultations on COC. The South China Sea is well on the way to overall order and stability.

At such a critical moment, the "serious concern" from four out-of-region countries reeks of suspicion. What they are really concerned about is that there is no more trouble in the South China Sea and that China achieves enduring peace with surrounding countries, which would leave no space for the US and other out-of-region countries to pose their nose in. They are also concerned that Manila has grasped the situation and would stop making provocations in the South China Sea, which means they would have one fewer pawn to contain China.

It's obvious that the four countries' sudden interest is closely linked with America's strategic calculations. The day before the Quad meeting, the US, Japan and ROK had a trilateral defense ministers' meeting also in Tokyo, at which they played up the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific region, and signed a Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework agreement. By hyping up security issues, releasing joint statements with regional allies, and even signing new security agreements, the US is trying to make sure the allies' defense strategies will serve its own strategic goals in the major-country competition more conveniently and effectively. To that end, Washington has to keep tension on the Korean Peninsula, in the South and East China Sea, and in the Taiwan Strait – just to a degree enough to create public opinions to keep the allies on its war chariot more tightly, but not too much so confrontation won't escalate into conflict and it won't be dragged into another prolonged crisis.

This is exactly why, when the maritime frictions between China and the Philippines seemed to aggravate tension, the US stopped pouring oil to the flame, and instead played a war of words on a low profile. But when the China-Philippines provisional arrangements turned the situation for the better, Washington jumped out at the first opportunity to express its concern, worried that the two countries would really "bury the hatchet". The Philippines' sovereignty and security are never its concern as it claimed.

The South China Sea has finally seen peace and serenity after more than a year of friction. We hope Manila can learn a lesson, stop taking any steps that would augment the situation, and strictly control the dangerous and unprofessional behaviors of its maritime forces. It should meet China halfway and make joint efforts to keep the South China Sea situation well under control. We also hope that the parties in the South China Sea can truly implement the DOC effectively and fully, and speed up the COC consultations for an early result that's valid and substantive, so as to lay a solid foundation for achieving enduring peace and stability in the region and put an end to interference from outside the region once and for all.

Editor's note: Originally published on China.com.cn, 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.