Experts weigh in on real threats to stability in South China Sea

Chinese experts at a special forum in Beijing have pointed out that the root causes of the instability in the South China Sea are the United States picking sides on the South China Sea issue, certain claimants in relevant disputes attempting to enforce their illegal interests, and the illegal award of the arbitration tribunal in 2016.

The experts from various research centers and universities discussed the issues at an event on Tuesday organized by the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI).

Responding to claims by some Western countries that China's construction on some islands and reefs in Nansha Qundao had changed the "status quo" in the area, Wu Shicun, chairman of the Huayang Research Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance, explained that related moves by China are measures aimed at countering the Philippines' arbitration claim and improving China's unfavorable position on relevant islands and reefs under its jurisdiction.

Such measures are both reasonable and lawful, Wu said.

Hu Bo, director of the Center for Maritime Strategy Studies of Peking University, said that China's claims to sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea have remained consistent and continuous.

Hu said the primary sources of the current instability and turbulence in the South China Sea can be attributed to two factors. First, some claimant countries, such as the Philippines, have attempted to alter the status quo and even undermine the commitment made by all parties in the "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" not to occupy new uninhabited islands or reefs. Second, the involvement of the United States in the South China Sea disputes and its intensified military deterrence measures.

Hu pointed to the fact that the situation in the South China Sea was generally more stable during the period from the end of the Cold War to 2009, when the United States paid less attention to the area and the Southeast Asian region.

Some other experts, including Lei Xiaolu, a professor at the China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies of Wuhan University, and Zheng Zhihua, an associate professor at the Center for Japanese Studies under the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, criticized the illegal "arbitral award" in 2016.

They stressed that it was made by a tribunal that had no jurisdiction and that the award, in breach of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and of China's rights as a State Party under the UNCLOS, is null and void and has no binding force.

The experts also warned that the United States is attempting to draw forces outside the region into the South China Sea issue by hyping up fake narratives regarding freedom of navigation and overflight in the region, making the situation more complicated.

However, the experts also said they believe the situation in the South China Sea is far less tense than claimed by some countries and portrayed by some media organizations.

"It is the United States that poses the greatest threat to the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea," said Yan Yan, director of the Research Center for Oceans Law and Policy, National Institute for South China Sea Studies.

The United States interprets international maritime law navigation rules in a manner that aligns with its own national interests and imposes them as standards to compel regional countries to accept, a typical manifestation of American maritime hegemony, Yan added.

(Cover: A file photo of the Nansha Islands /CFP)