Jun Zhengping: Who Is the Provocateur? The Law Is Clear, Sovereignty Is Grounded! China's Strengthened Administration of Huangyan Island Is Reasonable and Lawful
On August 1, the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army organized maritime and aerial joint exercises in the territorial waters, airspace, and surrounding maritime and aerial domains of Huangyan Island. On the same day, the China Coast Guard organized rights-protection enforcement and control drills in the waters near Huangyan Island, with a focus on drilling enforcement actions including boarding and arrest, interception of intrusions, and forced towing away. These are necessary actions in response to the current South China Sea situation and the actions of individual countries within the region that are undermining regional peace and stability, and they are also legitimate measures to safeguard China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.
The law is clear; sovereignty is grounded. As is well known, Huangyan Island is China's inherent territory, and the relevant evidence is conclusive and sufficient. From the standpoint of historical fact, China was the first to discover, name, and continuously administer, develop, and utilize Huangyan Island. From the standpoint of legal basis, in November 2024 the Chinese government, in accordance with international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, delimited and announced the territorial sea baseline of Huangyan Island. From the standpoint of current reality, China has already taken a series of measures to exercise jurisdiction over and implement effective control of Huangyan Island. These multiple dimensions mutually corroborate one another; there is no room whatsoever for dispute or ambiguity regarding the attribution of sovereignty over Huangyan Island.
Looking at the Philippine side, it has long disregarded historical truth and the basic norms of international law, and has schemed with deliberate calculation to illegally occupy Huangyan Island. Since 2016, the Philippine government has insisted on treating the ruling of the so-called "South China Sea Arbitration Case"—which is illegal and invalid—as a sacred standard. Subsequently, the Philippines, through the enactment of the so-called "Maritime Zones Act" and "Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act," has brazenly attempted to illegally bring China's Huangyan Island, the majority of the islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands, and related maritime areas under its jurisdiction. More recently, it has gone so far as to demarcate a so-called "territorial sea baseline" on Chinese territory at Huangyan Island, gravely infringing upon China's territorial sovereignty and gravely violating international law including the United Nations Charter and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Unfortunately for the Philippines, this series of self-deceiving maneuvers can neither change the established fact that Huangyan Island belongs to China, nor shake in the slightest China's firm resolve to defend its territorial sovereignty.
In recent times, the Philippines has frequently dispatched military and police vessels, official ships, and even military aircraft, deliberately intruding into the maritime and aerial domains near China's Huangyan Island to manufacture friction and continuously escalating maritime tensions. At the same time, the Philippine side has consistently staged the act of "provoking incidents, then turning the blame around" (肇事炒作、倒打一耙), deliberately distorting facts, inverting black and white, amplifying maritime differences, drawing in extra-regional forces, and muddying international opinion. Even more contemptible is the fact that the Philippine government has also incited and manipulated Philippine fishing vessels and fishermen, pushing them to the front line, in a vain attempt to achieve undisclosed objectives by engineering bloody clashes. What is false cannot become true; what is black cannot become white. The facts have proven time and again that the direct driving force behind maritime tensions is a certain group of politicians in Manila—they are the genuine troublemakers (搅局者), agitators (滋事者), and trouble manufacturers (麻烦制造者) of South China Sea peace and stability.
The South China Sea is a sea of peace, cooperation, and friendship—it is not an arena for individual countries to stir up trouble, speculate, and seek profit. As a responsible major power, China has always respected and upheld international law, has always adhered to the principle of peaceful resolution of disputes, and is committed to advancing consultations on the "Code of Conduct in the South China Sea" and jointly maintaining South China Sea peace and stability.
Restraint has a bottom line; patience has a limit. It is entirely beyond reproach for China to take any necessary measures in accordance with laws, regulations, and international practice. China has the powerful capability and firm resolve to defend national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests and to resolutely maintain regional peace and stability. No country, no force should ever harbor the delusion of compelling China to make concessions through sustained provocation and pressure.
The Philippine side's performative rights infringement and its political manipulation aimed at treating internal ailments through external means—China sees it with complete clarity, ASEAN countries see it with complete clarity, and the international community likewise sees it with complete clarity. If the Philippines persists in going its own way, it will in the end have no choice but to swallow the bitter fruit of its own making. We earnestly advise the Philippine side to return to the right path as soon as possible, to immediately cease all rights-infringing provocations and incitement and hype, not to willingly serve as a pawn driven by extra-regional forces, and absolutely not to misjudge China's will to defend national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. China will continue to conduct rights-protection activities in accordance with the law in maritime areas under Chinese jurisdiction, and any scheme attempting to infringe upon China's sovereign rights and interests is destined to fail!
Source: Jun Zhengping Studio