2024 is coming. Everyone prays for the New Year to drive away turmoil and bring peace. However, the trees want to be quiet and the wind does not stop.
Ren'ai Reef is located in the eastern part of the Nansha Islands, about 14 nautical miles southeast of Mischief Reef, and is an atoll with a length of 15 kilometers and a width of about 56 km, mostly exposed at low tide.
Since 2023, the Philippines has used an old "beach"** to frequently provoke trouble at Ren'ai Jiao in the South China Sea, and has also bitten back, slandering China for "bullying the small with the big". In the New Year, they openly said that they would build permanent structures on Ren'ai Jiao, and they also started a "joint patrol" with the United States. It's time to clarify the rights and wrongs of Ren'ai Jiao and return the innocent truth to history.
One question: Who belongs to Ren'ai Jiao?
Ren'ai Jiao is an integral part of China's Nansha Islands and belongs to China's territory.
Schematic map of the geographical location of Ren'ai Jiao in China's Nansha Islands
China's activities in the South China Sea have a history of more than 2,000 years. As early as the Western Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BC, the Chinese sailed in the South China Sea and discovered the islands in the South China Sea in long-term practice. In order to strengthen the coastal defense of the South China Sea, the Song Dynasty set up a sea patrol division to inspect the South China Sea.
China was the first to discover, name, develop and utilize Nanhai Zhudao and related waters, and was the first to exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction over Nanhai Zhudao and related waters in a continuous, peaceful and effective manner, and established its sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao and its relevant rights and interests in the South China Sea.
China's South China Sea Zhudao includes Dongsha Islands, Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Nansha Islands. The Nansha Islands were illegally occupied by the Japanese side during Japan's war of aggression against China. After the end of World War II, China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao in accordance with the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and the Japanese Surrender Instrument, dispatched military and political personnel to the South China Sea islands and reefs to hold a reception ceremony, erected monuments, and sent troops to garrison, and in 1948 published the "Location Map of Nanhai Zhudao", which clearly included the Nansha Islands as a whole into China's territory, and marked Ren'ai Jiao (then known as Renai Dark Sands) as part of the Nansha Islands. The world maps published by many countries, including the United States, have clearly drawn the islands and reefs in the South China Sea as belonging to China.
In 1948, the "Location Map of Nanhai Zhudao" officially released by China** depicted the Nansha Islands and other islands in detail, and the red box marked was Ren'ai Jiao (then known as Renai Dark Sand).
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China has firmly upheld China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea. In 1983, the China Geographical Names Committee published some standard geographical names for Nanhai Zhudao, including Ren'ai Jiao in the Nansha Islands. The 1992 Law of the People's Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone also clearly stipulates that the land territory of the People's Republic of China includes Dongsha Islands, Xisha Islands, Zhongsha Islands and Nansha Islands. China has always had territorial sovereignty over the Spratly Islands, including Ren'ai Jiao.
In 1988, the Chinese scientific expedition team drilled samples at Ren'ai Jiao in the Nansha Islands.
The Philippines claims that Ren'ai Jiao is located in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, and that the Philippines has sovereign rights and jurisdiction over it, and further denies China's sovereignty over Ren'ai Jiao, which is an integral part of the Spratly Islands. This argument is simply untenable under international law.
Under the Charter of the United Nations and general international law, territorial sovereignty is sacrosanct. It is a general principle of international law that the territorial sovereignty of States is the basis of their maritime rights. According to universally recognized international law, maritime rights derive from territorial sovereignty, and maritime rights must not infringe upon the territorial sovereignty of other States. Obviously, the Philippines' denial of China's territorial sovereignty with maritime rights has no basis in law and puts the cart before the horse, and its trespassing on Ren'ai Jiao and the restoration of the "beach"** have seriously violated China's territorial sovereignty.
Second question: Who is treacherous?
50s of the last centuryThe Philippines has tried to get its hands on China's Spratly Islands. But in the face of China's resolute opposition, the Philippines retreated.
But since the 70sThe Philippines began to ignore its international reputation and directly invade and occupy a number of Nansha islands and reefs by force. As for Ren'ai Jiao, the Philippines is even more deliberate, staging a big drama that sells misery and begs for mercy on the surface, but in fact has sinister intentions.
9 May 1999Just after the Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was brutally bombed by the United States and NATO, a dilapidated No. 57 tank landing ship of the Philippine Navy, the Sierra Madre, suddenly appeared in the waters of Ren'ai Jiao, claiming that it had no choice but to "sit on the beach" on the northwest side of Ren'ai Jiao due to "water leakage at the bottom of the ship."
The picture shows the landing ship "Sierra Madre" illegally "beached", which is translated in Chinese as the No. 57 tank landing ship. Its predecessor was the 542-class tank landing ship of the United States during World War II, which was commissioned in 1944 and transferred to the Philippines in 1976.
China immediately lodged solemn representations and demanded that the Philippines immediately tow it away. The Philippine rhetoric at the time was that it was an accident, that it had a breakdown and needed to be repaired, but that there was a shortage of parts at the moment, and it promised to be towed away after repairs.
As a result, this "repair" was "repaired" until 2002. That year, China and ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, Article 5 of which clearly stipulates that all parties undertake not to take actions that would complicate or escalate disputes or affect peace and stability, including actions not to inhabit uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, sands or other natural formations.
September 2003The then Foreign Minister of the Philippines, Abdalin, once again promised the Chinese side that the Philippines had no intention of building facilities on Second Thomas Shoal, and that the Philippines was a signatory to the Declaration and would not and would not be the first to violate it. As it turned out, he broke his promise.
Of course, China has the ability to tow away this "beach"****, but we have always attached importance to good-neighborliness and do not want to affect peace and stability in the South China Sea, and hope that the Philippines will keep its promises.
In practice, China is also benevolent to the Philippines. In order to maintain the normal life of the people on the "beach"**, the Chinese side fully upholds the humanitarian spirit and reaches a "gentlemen's agreement" with the Philippines to allow the Philippines to transport some necessary water, food and medicine. Of course, each replenishment must be notified to the Chinese side in advance and supervised by the Chinese coast guard ship on the spot.
More than 20 years have passed in this way, and the Philippine defenders have changed several times, and they have long been rusty and dilapidatedThe Philippines has once again staged a realistic version of the "farmer and the snake" fable
In October 2013, the Philippines illegally "beached" the landing ship "Sierra Madre" at Ren'ai Jiao in China's Nansha Islands, which has rusted through the interior of many places.
Soon after Marcos, the incumbent of the Philippines, took office, he tore up the "gentlemen's agreement" with ChinaFrom 2023, ships loaded with construction materials will be dispatched in turn in an attempt to break through the proper law enforcement of the Chinese coast guard vessels, drive piles to reinforce the "beach"**, and continue the illegal occupation of Ren'ai Jiao.
In August 2023, Marcos openly "jumped back" and refused to tow away the "beach"**Asked if the Philippines had ever made a promise to China to tow it away, Marcos threatened to revoke it if he was not aware of such an agreement between the two countries, and if so, he would immediately revoke it.
Three questions: Who has repeatedly touched porcelain for show?
According to incomplete statistics, in 2023, the Philippines will organize 14 transportation and replenishment operations to the "beach". Especially since the second half of the year, the Philippine side has intensified, and every time it sends supplies to the "beach", it has invited a large number of reporters to accompany it, photographed the Chinese and Philippine ships at close range, and then pieced together hype through editing to hype up the Chinese side to obstruct the transportation and replenishment, "rammed" the Philippine ships, and also claimed that the Chinese side used long-range sound wave devices and military-grade lasers to attack the Philippine crewStrive to create a "victim" image of yourself.
What is the actual situation?
The so-called "Chinese collision with Philippine vessels" is actually a deliberate collision and scraping of Chinese law enforcement coast guard vessels by Philippine vessels.
In October 2023, the Philippine Coast Guard ship premeditated and voluntarily reversed, and its tail collided with the starboard side of the Chinese parked and drifting Qiongsansha Yu 00003 ship.
The so-called "China's 'dangerous maneuver' against the Philippine vessel" actually means that after warning the illegal intrusion to no avail, the Chinese coast guard ship chose to use low-intensity measures such as water cannon spray to expel it, and the water cannon sprayed into the nearby sea, but did not aim at the Philippine ship at all.
As for China's use of so-called "sound waves" and "lasers", it is even more out of nowhere. The Chinese side has neither the intention nor the need to use a similar device.
Causal inversion, shifting flowers and trees, and even directly spreading rumors are all typical methods of cognitive warfare.
Q4: Who has repeatedly distorted international law?
In 2013, the Philippines, backed by the United States, initiated the infamous South China Sea arbitration. In 2016, the tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration made a so-called award full of errors under the political manipulation of the United States and other Western forces. Since then, some diehard anti-China forces in the Philippines have tried in vain to claim that Ren'ai Jiao is located in the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines on this basis.
As we all know, the South China Sea arbitration case directly involves the issue of territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitationTerritorial issues do not fall within the scope of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the SeaMoreover, China** has long stated that it excludes the application of the UNCLOS compulsory dispute settlement procedure to maritime delimitation and other issues.
The South China Sea arbitration case unilaterally initiated by the Philippines clearly violates the principle of "state consent" and the provisions of international law, including the UNCLOS, and is completely illegal. The arbitral tribunal established under the manipulation of the United States and the West is a "grass platform" that has no credibility and has exceeded its authority and arbitrarily adjudicated in accordance with the law, and the award it makes is naturally illegal, invalid and without any binding force.
The picture shows the five judges of the arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration established at the unilateral request of the Philippines, from left: Dutch judge Suns, German judge Wolfram, presiding arbitrator Ghanaian judge Mensa, Polish judge Pollack, and French judge Ke.
The South China Sea arbitration case has sparked widespread skepticism in the international community. Graham Allison of Harvard University has pointed out that from the day the Philippines sought arbitration, China argued that the international arbitration tribunal had no jurisdiction to accept the case, because the matter was a matter of sovereignty and could not be arbitrated under the UNCLOS.
Former judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Helmut Türk, also pointed outThe essence of the South China Sea dispute is a territorial sovereignty dispute, not a purely legal issueAny attempt to package political issues involving territorial sovereignty disputes as legal issues is self-defeating.
Five questions: Who is the mastermind behind the scenes?
Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the Philippines is pressing forward step by step on the Ren'ai Jiao issue and going further and further, and behind the scenes, the United States has always been coercing, luring, and fueling the fire. The Ren'ai Jiao issue is like a mine buried by the United States in the South China Sea, with the lead in its hands, and it will be used to ignite a fire when necessary. But why did the Philippines and the United States "hit it off"?
For the Philippines, continuing to "sit on the beach" will not only realize its dream of coveting the resources of the South China Sea, but also give the United States, its "hardcore ally", a vote. There is another reason, that is, the Marcos family in the Philippines has long had a handle in the hands of the United States.
According to reports, some of the victims' families are still in the United States in a lawsuit against Marcos Sr.** thousands of Filipinos demanding $2 billion in compensation. The U.S. froze tens of billions of dollars that the Marcos family had brought with them when they fled to Hawaii during the Philippine coup. The U.S. court also found Marcos and his mother, Imelda, guilty of contempt of court, and could theoretically have been detained if they entered the United States. However, Marcos has visited the United States three times, and all of them come and go freely, and it is likely that he has reached an internal deal with the United States. ** The family has been manipulated to death by the Americans, can the Philippines still obey the United States?
Located in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, the Marekina City Shoe Museum houses some of the shoes of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos.
For the United States, this move is even more profitable. First of all, Ren'ai Jiao is geographically delicate, and the Philippines is a key country in the "first island chain" of the United States. The U.S. uses the Ren'ai Jiao issue to hype up the "China threat", which is conducive to its own offshore balancing, stirring up geopolitical conflicts, and attacking and suppressing China.
Second, ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, have different attitudes toward the South China Sea issueThis move can drive a wedge between ASEAN countries, weaken ASEAN's "centrality", and firmly control the rhythm of the Asia-Pacific pattern.
In addition, the Philippines has just opened four new military bases to the United States in 2023, one of which is close to the Spratly Islands and the other two are very close to the island of Taiwan. Through these bases, the US military can not only monitor the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, but also help the United States expand the scope of military radiation in the Asia-Pacific region and serve its global hegemony.
A Philippine Marine receives an M4 rifle with a grenade launcher from a U.S. Army colonel in Manila, Philippines, June 2017.
As a result, people have seen that when the Philippines was transporting supplies to the reef, the United States sent military reconnaissance planes to operate in the airspace near Ren'ai Jiao, and on several occasions it even sent missile destroyers to support and cover the PhilippinesThe Philippines released a message that reversed black and white on the front foot, and the United States ** and ** on the back foot said that they "stand with the Philippine allies";The U.S. side has also repeatedly threatened China with the possibility of triggering the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty. The Philippine senior ** revealed that the United States had provided advice to the Philippines on repairing the illegal "beaching"**.
As Tigrau, the former Philippine Minister of Information, wrote a few days ago on **The United States is trying to portray China as a "threat to neighboring countries such as the Philippines", and "the United States has given us ** too easily".
In recent years, the Philippines has been provoking troubles in the waters of Ren'ai Jiao in China's Nansha Islands and stirring up the situation in the South China Sea.
There is nothing to do in the South China Sea, and mediocre people disturb themselves. The Philippines should think clearly: On the South China Sea issue, it is worth it to let the United States be a gunman, fight against China, a good neighbor, and let the people of the two countries take the blame?