Some people may still be puzzled about the baselines of the territorial sea, but in short, they are made up of the lowest baselines on the edge of the territorial waters. This area is called internal water, which is an area of absolute sovereignty owned by the state; The territorial sea, on the other hand, is an external water, over which the state has exclusive jurisdiction. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the baselines of the territorial sea are actually the limit of the sea near the coastline at low tide, or in the case of complex terrain, straight lines can be used.
When I first came across this news, I was puzzled by it for a long time. What does this dotted line that prominently marks the site mean today?
Many people immediately understood the meaning of this through observation, and that it was closely related to the Vietnam issue. However, as we all know, the relationship between China and Vietnam has been relatively harmonious recently, and the two sides are jointly promoting the construction of industrial chains, and the conflicts that arise at sea can also be properly negotiated and resolved. At the moment, everyone is willing to sit down and go deep into the controversy, and those who can be put on hold for the time being will be put on hold first, and there is a peaceful atmosphere that does not need to put heavy pressure on Vietnam.
To do this, we need to dig deeper into the relevant ** reports to see if they leave any clues.
First of all, we all know that the United States is currently in chaos in the Middle East, and it is also a headache in the face of the Ukraine crisis. Still, it has not relaxed its focus on East Asia. This is supported by a rare bipartisan consensus in the United States, so their activities in East Asia will not be slackened for any reason, especially in the Philippines. Although we all know that the size of the Philippines cannot shake our strategic determination, the noise is like a fly in our ears, and it is annoying.
In the current context of Western society trying to cut off ties with us, Southeast Asia is particularly crucial. In the face of such a situation, we cannot inflict violence on them, but on the contrary, we should try to weaken the contradictions with Southeast Asian countries and accelerate the pace of cooperation between the two sides. Therefore, we will see the railway speed plan between China and Vietnam, the acceleration of the Trans-Asian Railway project, and the smooth opening of the Dali-Baoshan railway section on July 22, 2022, and the inaugural voyage of the "Trans-Asian Railway - China-Laos Railway (Nanchong)" on April 25, 2023, which also marks Nanchong officially becoming the starting point of the China-Laos train in Sichuan Province. In addition, the recent issue in northern Myanmar cannot be ignored.
Therefore, the specially marked baselines in the territorial sea this time are actually a strong signal to Vietnam and ASEAN member states to deepen cooperation again. Tell them that there is no need to worry about cooperation with our country, and that no matter what problems we face, we can communicate openly and honestly!
In fact, long before that, on February 17, our country revealed important information at the Munich conference!
We have signed a new and upgraded Code of Conduct in the South China Sea with the 10 ASEAN countries.
Of the ten countries we mentioned, the Philippines naturally includes. There is no doubt that our negotiations with the Philippines may have yielded a phased outcome.
It can be seen from this that this large-scale "delineation operation" is actually mainly to deal with the Philippines. Looking to the future, we firmly believe that our future in Southeast Asia will be bright. However, if the Philippines chooses to continue to follow the United States in hostility with us, it will not achieve the desired outcome and may even be isolated by other ASEAN members.
It is important to know that after Marcos Jr. took over the ** position, the Philippine economy deteriorated, and the country fell into internal strife, which may even lead to a civil war.
It is therefore difficult to understand why they have the audacity and courage to continue to clash with our country. Of course, perhaps the reason for this is that they realize that they are unable to cope with the economic development, and may choose to bend their knees to survive more conveniently, after all, the Marcos Jr. family wealth is stored in the United States!