Sino-VietnameseZhongjiannan incident, China ended U.S. arbitration in the South China Sea.
The South China Sea, an important strategic point of our country, contains abundant natural resources and has been a coveted target of the great powers since ancient times. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the South China Sea issue has continued to spark controversy due to historical issues, and many countries have tried to internationalize the issue.
From a legal point of view, the South China Sea belongs to the territory of our country. As early as 1934, China ** surveyed the maritime frontier and issued a map with an 11-dash line, and Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries did not raise objections at that time.
In addition, a garrison was sent to the South China Sea. Therefore, China's sovereignty over the South China Sea is indisputable.
Although there have been some problems in the South China Sea for a long time, in the early days of the founding of New China, China's navy was relatively weak, and the Taiwan authorities also reduced their investment in the South China Sea out of political considerations, resulting in us being passive in dealing with the South China Sea issue.
However, with the advent of the new century, especially in the past decade, China's naval military strength has been continuously enhanced, and we have begun to gradually seize the initiative on the South China Sea issue.
In fact, winning the initiative is a long process, and the most important turning point is the Zhongjiannan incident.
Starting from the construction of the island, it can be traced back to the outbreak of the Jiannan incident in the navy. Zhongjian Island was one of the first islands in the Paracel Islands to be fully controlled, with a maximum elevation of only two meters above sea level, and its area varies with the rise and fall of the sea.
At high tide, the island is only the size of two football fields, and due to the frequent inundation of seawater, the island has a harsh environment and is known as the "Gobi of the South China Sea". When the People's Liberation Army (PLA) first stationed, the island was deserted and lacked grass.
Through the unremitting efforts of the PLA soldiers, the appearance of Zhongjian Island has undergone great changes, and oases and green trees have gradually appeared. However, despite the improvements, Zhongjian Island still needs external supplies.
Zhongjian Island, the focus of the development of the South China Sea. The Zhongjian South Basin, an area that has attracted attention from China's development and exploration activities in the South China Sea, has become a hot spot for all parties to compete because of its rich oil and gas resources.
The abundant oil and gas resources of the Zhongjian South Basin benefit from its unique geological structure. The Cenozoic terrestrial, transitional and marine sedimentary systems are complete, which provides a superior environment for the formation and storage of oil and gas resources.
In addition, the complete control of the Paracel Islands has enabled China's infrastructure construction in this region to proceed smoothly and provided a solid logistical support for the mining work. However, the lag of deep-sea oil and gas exploration technology has become a bottleneck restricting oil and gas exploration in the South Basin of China.
In 2008, with the construction of China's self-developed Haiyang 981 oil exploration platform, China finally had a magic weapon to develop deep-sea oil and gas resources in the South China Sea.
Since then, China's deep-sea oil and gas development in the South China Sea has entered a new stage.
Before Platform 981, deep-sea oil exploration in China could only reach depths below 300 meters. However, most of the oil and gas resources in the South China Sea are located in deep waters.
China has invested a lot of manpower and material resources in the South China Sea, and at the same time, it has also achieved breakthroughs in mining technology, which naturally caused dissatisfaction in Vietnam. After all, Vietnam has always had a disagreement with us on the issue of the Paracel Islands, and has also set up an exclusive economic zone, completely ignoring our sovereignty over territorial waters.
In the past, due to the immaturity of China's mining technology, Vietnam did not care. However, in 2014, when the Chinese maritime authorities announced that the Haiyang 981 platform would operate near Zhongjian Island, the Vietnamese authorities were very anxious.
During the operation of the Haiyang 981 platform, the Vietnamese authorities sent more than 20 large and small ships with the intention of directly ramming, and our side quickly formed a barrier with the ships and successfully expelled the unscrupulous Vietnamese ships with high-pressure water cannons.
After the first wave of obstruction was successfully defused by our side, in the afternoon, Vietnam gathered hundreds of fishing boats illegally fishing near Xisha to besiege the Haiyang 981 platform, which was also successfully defused by our side.
Even because the size gap was too large, the Vietnamese fishing boat team was overturned by a wave of our side during the impact. In the end, the Vietnamese fled in disgrace, and the Zhongjiannan incident began.
In the Paracel Islands incident, many things seem incredible, but in fact, there are often deep meanings behind them. We may wonder why Vietnam would use illegally fished fishing vessels to challenge our platform, but Vietnam** has a chance of winning.
Prior to this, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Russell had said that China's maritime rights and interests based on the "nine-dash line" were inconsistent with the principles of international law and that China should make changes.
On May 2, 14, China announced that it would conduct oil exploration near Zhongjian Island, and a few days later, U.S. spokesman Psaki publicly said that China's deployment of oil rigs in the South China Sea is a provocation that may lead to instability in the South China Sea.
The Vietnamese authorities' provocation against Zhongjian Island was actually carried out with the encouragement and support of the US authorities. At the same time, Vietnam strategically underestimated the determination of our country, believing that we would not conduct a "two-front operation".
However, Vietnam's later behavior was to reverse black and white, saying that the violation of China's territorial waters was our aggression against them, which triggered a wave of anti-China in the country and had a serious impact on Chinese-funded factories.
At the same time, Vietnam has also mistakenly smashed many factories in South Korea and Singapore, which has been condemned by the international community.
In the waters of the Paracel Islands, China's official ships and reinforced fishing boats form a great wall of the sea, like a high wall, and Vietnamese ships cannot cross the minepool.
The Vietnamese authorities have repeatedly dispatched official vessels to launch rampages, all of which have ended in failure. Later, naval divers were even dispatched to drop fishing nets and other obstacles in our territorial waters, but they were successfully removed by our personnel.
In the confrontation in the entire sea area, our personnel have always fought in a reasonable, well-founded and restrained manner, and no personnel have been killed. These acts of Vietnam have aroused widespread dissatisfaction and criticism in the international community.
In the international arena, Vietnam has never admitted its mistakes, and even after China's official announcement on July 15 that the Haiyang 981 platform had completed all operational activities, Vietnam also brazenly claimed that it had completely driven the Haiyang 981 platform out of Vietnam's waters, and this self-deception has naturally become a new laughing stock for the international community.
Although the scale of the China Jiannan incident was small, there was no formal exchange of fire, and there were no personnel, it had a profound impact on China's position in the South China Sea. This event marks our country's determination to go deep blue and is willing to pay any price to achieve this goal.
Prior to this incident, China's islands were not calm, and the Diaoyu Dao incident and the Scarborough Shoal incident occurred frequently. Under the inducement of the United States, the surrounding countries have used their own populist activities to incite national sentiment and provoke anti-China sentiment in an attempt to gain benefits in the Sino-US wrestling.
The Sino-Vietnamese incident is the most serious security crisis between China and Vietnam since the new century, and it has demonstrated to the whole world China's firm determination and courage.
In this case, China will not only have to respond to Vietnam's provocations, but also control the scale of the conflict so as not to give it a hand. We must not only firmly safeguard national rights and interests and oppose foreign interference, but also adhere to the consistent position of peaceful settlement of disputes, and vigorously fight back against Vietnam's populist behavior.
In the aftermath of this incident, the China Jiannan incident has successfully thwarted the anti-China countries in the South China Sea that are trying to rely on the United States for self-respect, and has made them understand that only by respecting China's sovereignty and territorial integrity can the South China Sea become a treasure of prosperity, not a powder keg full of dangers.
The peaceful settlement of this incident has fully demonstrated to the world China's principles and handling of the South China Sea issue, further proved China's persistent pursuit of peace, and convinced the international community that China will continue to promote peaceful exchanges with neighboring countries without harming its national interests.
Although the Americans maliciously hyped up the South China Sea issue, they have always been afraid of China's increasing maritime strength in recent years, and they dare not get involved in it personally, so they can only incite a war and launch an offensive in the international community.
However, none of this has shaken our determination to defend our maritime frontiers.
They are trying to portray China as a big bully and undermine the sovereignty of other countries in the international community. Our diplomats have given a clear explanation in terms of international law, which has been supported and understood by a wide range of countries.
They do not realize that with the increase of China's comprehensive national strength, the balance of power between us and the United States has been reversed in the world, especially in Southeast Asia.
The small neighboring countries have always remained calm and restrained in the face of a powerful China, and despite the temptations, they have not faced each other. This is the best recognition of China's strength. In the face of the United States' open guns and covert arrows, we have taken a variety of measures, on the one hand, to carry out a reasonable and restrained diplomatic struggle, and on the other hand, to intensify the development of the South China Sea and enhance China's maritime strength.
No matter which direction the wind is blowing from, we will remain steady.
The prosperity of the South China Sea has attracted investors and tourists from all over the world, demonstrating China's growing power in the region. Those countries that try to undermine China's sovereignty have also begun to abandon their past grievances under China's leadership and move towards the path of peace, friendship, and joint development, which is undoubtedly the best response to those malicious provocations.
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