The Huangyan Island incident reflects the complexity, variability and comprehensiveness of the South China Sea issue, and highlights the intricacies of China's relations with neighboring countries and foreign forces. Behind some countries' artificial disputes and deliberate intensification of contradictions, what the provocateurs hope most is that China will lose his mind and fight in a rage, which will lead to a fierce collision between China and the United States, in an attempt to cause subversive mutation and continuous turmoil in the South China Sea, so as to achieve the sinister purpose of fishing in troubled waters and profiting from chaos. This has indeed underestimated the strategic judgment of the China administration, the strategic resilience of China's diplomacy in the face of complex situations, and the strategic willpower of the people of China to resolutely safeguard the country's territorial sovereignty.
China's response to the Huangyan Island incident between China and the Philippines is reasonable, beneficial and restrained. It not only firmly defended national sovereignty and national dignity, but also highlighted the vision of a big country that weighed the overall situation and maintained the freedom of diplomatic response. Since the incident, the basic policy stance and disposal principles of the China government can be summarized in four aspects:
There is no doubt that sovereignty belongs to me. A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly stressed that Huangyan Island was first discovered and named by China, and was first incorporated into Chinese territory and exercised sovereign jurisdiction. China has sufficient legal basis for the territorial sovereignty of Huangyan Island. Before 1997, the Philippines had never raised any objection to the China government's exercise of sovereign jurisdiction and development and utilization of Huangyan Island, and repeatedly stated that Huangyan Island was outside the territory of the Philippines.
It is legitimate to defend sovereignty. China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands and their adjacent waters, and the position of the China government in safeguarding territorial sovereignty is firm. The cause of this incident was that the Philippine side violated China's sovereignty and harassed fishing boats and fishermen in China. China fishery vessels go to the South China Sea for routine cruise enforcement, and the Philippine side should earnestly respect China's sovereignty. China urges the Philippine side to immediately evacuate all ships from the waters of Huangyan Island and restore peace and tranquility in the waters. According to its duties and tasks, China Army will closely cooperate with fishery administration, sea surveillance and other departments to safeguard the national maritime rights and interests.
Diplomatic consultation is the solution. China insists on resolving the current situation through diplomatic consultations and strongly urges the Philippines to stop taking actions to escalate the situation and return to the correct track of diplomatic settlement. The Philippine side should not involve other countries, nor should it ask other countries to take sides. Internationalizing this issue will only further complicate and enlarge it, and will not help solve the problem at all.
There is no basis for submitting to international arbitration. Huangyan Island is an inherent territory of China, and there is no question of submitting it to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea allows coastal countries to establish an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles, but coastal countries have no right to damage the inherent territorial sovereignty of other countries. The proposition and practice of changing territorial sovereignty on the grounds of convention runs counter to the purposes and principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The China administration's strategic restraint and limited actions have left room for further action in diplomacy, achieved substantial results and grasped the strategic initiative. At present, China's positive stance has not changed, diplomatic space for resolving the incident still exists, Huangyan Island is still under the control of China, and the Chinese armed forces have always been a strong pillar for defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity. As long as we keep the bottom line, as long as we are not in a hurry, as long as we are both rigid and flexible, and as long as we are reasonable, beneficial and restrained, we will win greater strategic initiative on the South China Sea issue.
As far as the basic elements of territorial acquisition are concerned, we are talking about the earliest discovery, the earliest naming, the earliest development and operation and the earliest continuous administrative jurisdiction. Judging from these four elements, China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands, we say that the Diaoyu Islands will be discovered from the Ming Dynasty at the latest, and the Diaoyu Islands and its adjacent waters will be developed and operated. In addition, since the Ming Dynasty, the China government has been exercising effective jurisdiction over the Diaoyu Islands and its adjacent waters.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Diaoyu Island was the territory of China and was included in coastal defense. Later, it was also regarded as the territory of China in the Qing Dynasty. Later, due to pirates and Japanese, the Manchu government announced that coastal residents had retreated to the sea for more than 200 miles. Macao, Hongkong and Taiwan Province Province, including Southeast Asia, were all neglected by the Qing Dynasty and occupied by the colonial government. However, China has always been its sovereign state. Japan, as a defeated country in World War II, can't keep fishing successfully according to the United Nations and current practice. The sovereignty of Diaoyu Island is just that after World War II, the United States didn't want China to develop again, but intended to blockade China through neighboring countries 1 1. In the era of Deng Xiaoping, in order to ease the diplomatic relations between countries, it ignored the Diaoyu Islands, but always stressed that Diaoyu Islands were an inalienable part of China.