Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" article on December 4, original title: How Western allies are subverting international law and international norms in order to "contain" ChinaThere are many straits and passages in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, some of which are potential flashpoints for regional wars, others less well known, but which are strategically important in terms of military passage and supply and high-tech espionage. Therefore, the United States has been busy reinforcing the so-called first.
First, the second and even third island chains, to build a defense against China. But in some cases, the United States and its allies, the United Kingdom and Australia, have done so in defiance of international law and norms, UN recommendations and global consensus. Consider the case of the Chagos Archipelago, the Cocos Islands and some Pacific island countries in Oceania.
The Cocos Islands are located in the Indian Ocean and are closer to Jakarta than Perth. The archipelago is one of Australian-owned overseas territories that are being repurposed for defence and will undergo major expansions. Shortly before the Australian Prime Minister went to China last month to reconcile with China, he announced a 3The $7.9 billion plan is for the deployment of military assets (on the island), in particular the expansion of the runway to allow for the landing of heavier military aircraft. According to reports, this will be part of Australia's military transformation for "missile warfare." The Cocos Islands are strategically located to monitor all of Asia, especially the Strait of Malacca, Sunda and Lombok, where a variety of vessels, aircraft and submarines pass through, especially those of the Chinese side. Together with newly deployed military assets in the northern Philippines, they will form a regional surveillance and military network that stretches from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea.
But there are still problems on the legal and diplomatic fronts. When Canberra persuaded the United Nations to agree to the annexation of the Cocos Islands to Australia in 1984, it promised not to use the islands for military purposes. This commitment has the force of international law. But it doesn't matter, the United States gets what it wants. Who can object now?
Sunak's Britain** looks set to reject a proposal to return the Chagos archipelago, whose largest island, Diego Garcia, hosts one of the most important US military bases in the Indo-Pacific, to Mauritius. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ordered Britain to unconditionally withdraw from colonial administration of the region within six months. Subsequently, the UN General Assembly upheld the ruling by a vote of 116 in favour and 6 against. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled in 2021 that Britain has no sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, criticizing London for not returning its territory to Mauritius. This is the true rules-based international system – and it is being subverted by the West, which trumpets itself as "rules-based".
The Australian media hysterically declared that China's "threat of war" was imminent. At the same time, the United States, with the cooperation of Australia and New Zealand, is busy militarizing the entire Oceania, which has a huge impact on the legal borders under the international law of the sea.
China believes that under international law, foreign forces cannot conduct military and intelligence-gathering activities in its exclusive economic zone. India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Viet Nam share the same position. In contrast, the United States claims that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (to which the United States is not a party) allows other countries to exercise their freedom of navigation without having to notify them before entering their exclusive economic zones. Guess which country's navy is capable of sailing around the world!While other countries are bound by the United States' selfish interpretation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the United States considers itself not bound by law. As elsewhere, the U.S. pivot to Asia (or containment of China) is based on the idea of "do what I say, not do what I do." (Written by Lu Gang, translated by Qiao Heng).
*: Global Times.