Source: Overseas Network
On July 14, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying listed 10 facts on social platforms to respond to the so-called South China Sea statement by US Secretary of State Pompeo. (Source: Twitter)
local time on July 13, US Secretary of State Pompeo issued the so-called South China Sea statement. "Stigmatization" and "skewing" are the salient features of this statement. This statement deviated from the US government's long-standing attitude of not taking a stand on the issue of sovereignty over the South China Sea. The United States has not only increased its weight to contain China, but also tried to break a wedge between China and ASEAN countries and interfere with the South China Sea peace process. The United States has become the biggest destructive factor for peace in the South China Sea.
absurd logic
stigmatizing China’s presence in the South China Sea is the starting point of Pompeo’s so-called South China Sea statement. In the statement, Pompeo used words such as "bullying", "coercion" and "intimidation" to describe China's behavior in the South China Sea, placing China in the position of a "hegemony" in the South China Sea, thereby highlighting the United States. Disrupt the "legality" of the South China Sea. But it is not the United States that has the most say on this issue, but the countries around the South China Sea.
For example, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir said publicly in response to the United States and other extraterritorial intervention factors, "I believe China will exercise restraint on the South China Sea issue, but the problem is that foreign countries that are'unfriendly' to China will try to provoke. "In April this year, Western media hyped the so-called "confrontation" between China and Malaysia near the Malaysian oil rig "West Capella". The U.S. Navy sent warships to converge with Australian warships and declared that they would resist the Chinese threat. However, Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamed Shabu stated that "China respects Malaysia and has not done anything that will cause trouble to Malaysia."
In addition, the establishment of a consultation mechanism on the South China Sea issue between China and the Philippines, China and Malaysia, and China and Vietnam shows that China has made substantial progress in its efforts to resolve the South China Sea issue through consultations with neighboring countries in the South China Sea. Pompeo’s pollution to China Naming obviously lacks factual support.
Serious retrogression
The US abandoning its “no position” attitude in the South China Sea sovereignty dispute is the core of Pompeo’s so-called South China Sea statement. Pompeo’s statement invoked the results of the so-called arbitration and refused to recognize China’s sovereignty over Mischief Reef and Ren’ai Reef, and denied that Zengmu Shoal is the southernmost territory of China, and named Wan’an Beach and Lukang Shoal in the statement. , The sea area of Gran Natuna Island is adjacent to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries because it denies China's legitimate rights and interests in marine fisheries and marine resource development in these waters.
The United States not only ignores China's historical rights in the South China Sea, but also categorically denies the historical fact that the Chinese government has reclaimed the sovereignty of Nansha Islands and reefs in accordance with the "Potsdam Proclamation" and other historical facts, and blatantly challenged the international order formed after World War II. It can be seen from Pompeo’s statement that on the issue of sovereignty over the South China Sea, the United States has undisguisedly taken a sideways position, its position is obviously partial, and its attitude on the South China Sea issue has undergone a serious retrogression.
And trying to shape the image of the United States in the South China Sea "advocating justice" is the strategic means of Pompeo's so-called South China Sea statement. Pompeo stated in the statement that the world does not allow China to regard the South China Sea as its "sea empire," as if to portray the United States as the "spokesperson" of the world. Pompeo also stated that the United States will, in accordance with international law, work with the United States' Southeast Asian allies and partners that he calls the United States to safeguard their sovereign rights.
The hypocrisy of the United States lies in the fact that it regards international law as a “figure sheet” for its hegemonic behavior: The United States is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, but it frequently uses international law as a reason to stigmatize China’s The actions in the South China Sea deny China’s legal claims in the South China Sea, fully demonstrating the United States’ hegemony and bandit logic of "combining and discarding" international conventions including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
to instigate divorce
Increasing “weight” on the counterweight to contain China is the main strategic purpose of the US’s so-called South China Sea position statement. In the statement, the beginning of the issue was that the United States supported the "free and open Indo-Pacific", which fully demonstrated that the United States is in the South China Sea.Geopolitical ambitions on the issue. Since the Trump administration proposed the "Indo-Pacific strategy" in the 2017 edition of the US National Security Strategy Report, the so-called "free and open Indo-Pacific" has been given too much geopolitical meaning.
In Washington's eyes, the Indo-Pacific region is an arena for "superpower competition": the United States believes that China's construction of a maritime power will inevitably endanger its position in the Indo-Pacific region and the world. In fact, based on this recognition, the Trump administration has stepped up its "grey area" operations in the South China Sea and has accelerated the pace of containing China.
Public data show that in less than 4 years since Trump entered the White House, the US government has performed more than 20 freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. This figure is the 8 years of freedom of navigation of the Obama administration. 4 times the number of actions. The United States has also stepped up militarization operations in the South China Sea. In 2019 alone, the United States joined forces with neighboring countries in the South China Sea such as the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore, as well as foreign countries such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, India, and Canada, to conduct at least 50 various exercises in the South China Sea. These military exercises have a wide variety of fields, and have obvious directions.
In early July, the United States rarely dispatched two aircraft carriers to conduct cooperative military exercises in the South China Sea. In addition, the United States has strengthened its military and diplomatic activities in the South China Sea. The most typical incident is that the Trump administration has opened a precedent for warships to dock at Vietnamese ports since the end of the Vietnam War. At present, US warships have docked in Vietnam twice. It can be seen that the U.S. actions in the South China Sea have clearly strengthened. Using the South China Sea issue to contain China is an established strategic method of the U.S. Now, by issuing a position statement, the U.S. is trying to cover its actions in the South China Sea. The cloak of legalization.
By issuing the so-called South China Sea Statement, the United States also tried to break a "wedge" between China and ASEAN countries. In recent years, thanks to the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, the overall situation in the South China Sea has remained stable, and consultations on the code of conduct in the South China Sea are also proceeding in an orderly manner. In this context, the United States deliberately provoked the contradictions between China and other South China Sea claimants, separated China and ASEAN countries, and intended to interfere with the negotiation process of the South China Sea Code of Conduct.
It is foreseeable that the United States' actions in the South China Sea will be more frequent and the challenge to China will be more explicit. The United States is not a party to disputes in the South China Sea, but it frequently intervenes in the South China Sea issue. Under the guise of maintaining stability in the South China Sea, it will show off its force, exaggerate tension, and instigate confrontation in the region. It will only establish that the United States is a disruptor, saboteur and disruptor of regional peace and stability. The disgraceful role of a spoiler.
(He Xianqing, special commentator of Overseas Network)
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