Might does not make right
By Shen Dingli (China Daily) Updated: 2014-04-10 08:34The claim that China is redefining boundaries has been fabricated totally by the US. There are two sensitive maritime sovereignty disputes in the East China Sea and South China Sea. One is the Diaoyu Islands dispute between China and Japan and the other is the dispute concerning some isles and reefs of the Nansha Islands between China and the Philippines. With regard to the two disputes, China has indisputable sovereignty over these islands and reefs on the basis of both history and international law.
It is obvious from the historical evidence that the Diaoyu Islands has been incorporated in China's territory for more than five centuries. Japan annexed the islands in 1895, and the US had underhand dealings with Japan in 1972 that resulted in it transferring the "administrative control" of these islands to Japan. Even so, Washington has never acknowledged Japan's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.
China rejects Japan's unreasonable claim, but is willing to work with Japan to jointly "shelve the dispute", an approach that has helped the two countries experience 40 years of friendly exchanges since diplomatic relations were restored. It is not China, but Japan that unilaterally changed the status quo that resulted in the current strained bilateral relations when it carried out the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands two years ago.
China has exercised jurisdiction over the Huangyan Island and surrounding isles and reefs for at least eight centuries. Prior to 1997 the Philippines admitted that Luzon is the western limit of Philippine territory and never claimed sovereignty over Huangyan Island. It is the Philippines that has been repeatedly encroaching on China's isles and reefs over the past decades. The Philippines grounded a warship near Ren'ai Reef in the South China Sea in 1999 and has since refused to retrieve the ship. What Manila has done constitutes a serious violation of China's territorial integrity and sovereignty. That the US sent a navy plane to flex its muscles in the South China Sea while the Philippines tried to send a supply ship to the Ren'ai Reef also constitutes a violation of China's territorial sovereignty by force, coercion and intimi-dation.
It is China that has been exercising self-restraint and insisting on resolving the sovereignty disputes through peaceful means. It is Japan and the Philippines that have been trying to redefine boundaries under the umbrella of US support. It is Washington that is confusing right and wrong and ratcheting up tensions in East Asia.
The US' purpose is to maintain the Pax Americana. But it is doing so by focusing on trying to maximize its interests at the cost of China's legitimate rights and interests. In this scenario the world cannot enjoy lasting stability.
Washington needs to reflect on how to undertake its due responsibilities as a major power, and think carefully how to work together with China to build a new model for the relationship between great powers. Currently, some unstable factors do exist in East Asia, the root cause of which is that some of the US' allies in the region are attempting to redefine their territorial boundaries by counting on Washington's power and influence.
The string of erroneous signals being sent by the US has fostered regional instability, rather than helping realize regional stability. The US should not confuse right and wrong. If Washington refuses to come to its senses, it will finally be dragged into the waters by its irresponsible allies, which also goes against the purpose of the US' Asia-Pacific rebalancing strategy.
The author is associate dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.
