Q: According to media reports, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Communications and Operations Office and the Philippine Information Agency jointly made a three-episode documentary in Tagalog dubbed as “Freedom”, which claims that China “is nibbling at the territory of the Philippines and stealing resources that belong to the Philippines.” Spokespersons of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of National Defense and armed forces all said that this documentary meant to raise the awareness of the Philippine people on the South China Sea territory and to rally support of the whole country behind the government’s peaceful resolution of the South China Sea disputes through diplomatic means. Different voices are heard in the Philippines, with some people believing that the Philippine government is instigating hostility among ethnic groups inside the country and inflaming hatred against China outside the country. What is China’s comment on this?
A: The Chinese side has taken note of the Philippine documentary and the relevant reports. The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with the groundless criticism by the Philippine documentary which ignores the facts and confuses right and wrong, and is deeply concerned about the sitting Philippine government’s hyping up of the South China Sea issue and fueling of confrontation between the Chinese and Philippine peoples. By misleading and deceiving the public, the Philippines plots to gain sympathies and play the “victim”. Nevertheless, history brooks no denial and facts no fabrication. It is the Philippines that caused the relevant disputes with China in the South China Sea due to its adoption of an expansionist policy in the South China Sea in blatant violation of China’s sovereignty and rights and interests.
First, the South China Sea islands belong to China. Ample historical and legal evidence shows that China is the first country that discovers, names and develops the islands in the South China Sea, and also the first that exercises continuous sovereign jurisdiction over those islands. Yet they were seized by Japan during its war of aggression against China. The Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and other instruments that defined the international order after the Second World War all required Japan to give back the Chinese territory it had snatched. After the War, the Chinese government recovered the South China Sea islands. The root cause of the South China Sea disputes between China and the Philippines lies in the fact that the Philippines made illegal territorial claims over and occupied some maritime features of the Nansha Islands.
The Treaty of Paris (1898), the Treaty of Washington (1900) and the Treaty between the US and the UK (1930), which defined the scope of the Philippine territory, all explicitly excluded China’s Nansha Islands and the Huangyan Dao from the Philippine territory. For a long span of time afterwards, the domestic laws of the Philippines including its constitution also confirmed those descriptions on different occasions.
Since the conclusion of the Second World War and the start of the Cold War in particular, the Philippines has begun coveting China’s Nansha Islands. Starting from the 1970s, the Philippines has seized by force the Mahuan Dao, Feixin Dao, Zhongye Dao, Beizi Dao, Nanyao Dao, Xiyue Dao, Shuanghuang Shazhou and Siling Jiao of China’s Nansha Islands. The Philippines has long been conducting massive construction, deploying armed facilities and renovating and upgrading airport, piers, barracks, stilted houses and schools on the maritime features of China’s Nansha Islands that it has illegally occupied. China is consistently against the illegal occupation by the Philippines, and has repeatedly urged the Philippines to withdraw all personnel and facilities from the Chinese islands and reefs.
Furthermore, the Philippines also attempted to snatch China’s Ren’ai Jiao and Huangyan Dao. In May 1999, the No. 57 tank landing ship of the Philippines was illegally grounded on the Ren’ai Jiao under the excuse of “mechanic dysfunction”. China then lodged representations and protest. The Philippines replied that it would tow away the ship, and promised not to be the first country to violate the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). But now the Philippines goes back on its own words and refuses to tow away the “grounded” ship. Moreover, it plans to seize the reef by building fixed facilities on it. In March 2014, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement publicly, declaring its occupation of the Ren’ai Jiao with its “grounded” ship in 1999. What the Philippines has done is a typical breach of its own promise, stripping itself of all the credibility in front of China and the whole world. In April 2012, the Philippines dispatched military vessels to harass Chinese fishing vessels and fishermen operating in waters off the Huangyan Dao and gave inhuman treatment to the Chinese fishermen, later known as the “Huangyan Dao incident”. The Chinese government has to take necessary and proper measures in response to the Philippines’ further actions of seizing Chinese territory.
Second, the Philippines launched baseless accusations against China’s dotted line in the South China Sea in order to negate China’s sovereignty and relevant rights in the South China Sea and cover up the fact concerning its illegal occupation of some islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Islands. The Chinese people have started using and developing the South China Sea back to the Han Dynasty under the reign of Emperor Wu in the 2nd century B.C.. China’s sovereignty and relevant rights in the South China Sea are gradually formed in the long course of history, and consistently upheld by successive Chinese governments. In 1948, the Chinese government officially published the dotted line in the South China Sea in a bid to reaffirm China’s sovereignty and relevant rights, which have existed long before the drawing of this line.
Third, in January 2013, the Philippines unilaterally initiated an arbitration case with regard to its disputes with China in the South China Sea in defiance of China’s lawful rights as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and in violation of the consensus it has affirmed with China on many occasions as well as its solemn commitment made in the DOC. The action taken by the Philippines aims to deny China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea through political provocation under the cloak of law, in a bid to further advance its illegally gained interests. In response, China has repeatedly expounded on its position of “non acceptance and non participation”.
Fourth, China and the Philippines are neighbors for good. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines. The two countries have long lived in harmony and conducted exchanges in history, and fought against Japan’s aggression against the Philippines shoulder to shoulder. Since the 1990s, the two countries have issued many joint declarations and other documents, confirming that the two countries would resolve relevant disputes through negotiation and consultation. In 2004, the two countries also reached consensus on oil and gas cooperation in disputed waters, and made practical progress on that. Facts told us that as long-lasting good friends and neighbors, China and the Philippines could have properly solved the South China Sea issue through amicable negotiation.
China stays committed to pursuing the path of peaceful development and fostering friendship and partnership with neighboring countries, and remains a staunch force in safeguarding regional peace and stability. While firmly upholding territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests and bearing in mind the general interests of regional peace and stability, China is devoted to resolving relevant disputes with countries directly concerned including the Philippines through negotiation and consultation on the basis of respecting the historical facts and following the international law. China is also devoted to pressing ahead with the consultation on the code of conduct in the South China Sea (COC) under the framework of fully and effectively implementing the DOC with ASEAN countries including the Philippines.
The Chinese side urges the sitting Philippine government to put first the bilateral relations and regional peace and stability, follow the trend of the times featuring peace, development and cooperation as well as the common aspiration and expectation of the two peoples, stop provoking confrontations between the two peoples, cease all irresponsible words and deeds, come back to the right track of resolving disputes through negotiation and consultation, and work with China to safeguard the traditional friendship between the two peoples and regional peace and stability.