Truth about Ren'ai Jiao: An integral part of China's Nansha Qundao

Since August 2023, the Philippines has repeatedly provoked and disrupted the peace in the South China Sea by exploiting a dilapidated military vessel illegally grounded at Ren'ai Jiao in the Nansha Qundao for over 20 years.

Who owns Ren'ai Jiao? Who is changing the status quo of it? Why has a rusted-out World War II Philippine warship been "grounded" there for over 20 years? And, what are the intentions of the Philippines? 

CGTN here presents the facts and truth about Ren'ai Jiao.

Who owns Ren'ai Jiao?

Ren'ai Jiao is a submerged reef lying in the southeast of China's Nansha Qundao. It's about 16 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide. China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Qundao, including Ren'ai Jiao, which is solidly grounded in history and law.

History records show that the Chinese people's activities in the South China Sea date back more than 2,000 years. China is the first to have discovered, named and exploited the South China Sea Islands and relevant waters, and the first to have continuously, peacefully and effectively exercised sovereignty and jurisdiction over them.

After World War II, China recovered the South China Sea Islands illegally occupied by Japan. In 1948, China published an official map, reaffirming China's sovereignty over the South China Sea Islands and their adjacent waters. In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. repeatedly filed applications to China for surveying there, which implied U.S. acknowledgement of China's governing authority over the South China Sea Islands. Official maps published by Japan and other countries also marked the South China Sea Islands as belonging to China.

Ren'ai Jiao is neither "terra nullius," nor Philippine territory, nor is it within the Philippine exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. The territorial boundaries of the Philippines were established by a series of international treaties, and the Nansha Qundao, including Ren'ai Jiao, fall outside of this scope. The so-called "contiguity or proximity" is not a valid reason for asserting sovereignty. 

Ren'ai Jiao and a warship

The Philippines first stirred up issues regarding Ren'ai Jiao in 1999. That year, a Philippine military vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre, under the excuse that it got "stranded," illegally ran aground on it. 

Since then, a contingent of more than a dozen Philippine Marines and sailors has been stationed on the dilapidated warship, which has become a symbol of the Philippine outpost in the offshore islands.

The presence of the Sierra Madre prompted immediate and serious representations from China. At the time, then-Philippine President Joseph Estrada promised to tow away the warship, blaming the grounding on a "malfunction." President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo also pledged in 2003 not to "construct [new] facilities."

Nevertheless, moves by the Philippines in recent years have shown that the country has reneged on its pledge to remove the grounded warship from Ren'ai Jiao.

Since 2011, there had been increasing signs that Manila hoped to consolidate the deteriorating shipwreck into a more permanent installation. It had been delivering not only food, water, fuel and other supplies to the ship, but transporting constructing materials to repair and reinforce it.

And after receiving the support gesture from the U.S., the Philippines, in March 2014, for the first time publicly acknowledged that it deliberately "placed" the warship on the shoal in 1999 to "serve as a permanent Philippine government installation."

Who is changing the status quo?

With U.S. support, the Philippines, in 2014, brought up an arbitration against China over South China Sea Islands' sovereign issues. Two years later, the South China Sea Arbitration Tribunal issued an award and denied China's territorial sovereignty and its maritime rights and interests there.

The Chinese government immediately rejected the arbitration, saying the award was "illegal, null and void" as it ignored historical facts, violated principles of international law and was manipulated by the U.S.

It's known that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has no jurisdiction over sovereignty and territorial disputes, so the Philippines' unilateral initiation of arbitration on the basis of UNCLOS violated the international law and the arbitral tribunal exercising jurisdiction based on the UNCLOS went beyond its powers.

Besides, territorial sovereignty is a prerequisite for claiming maritime rights, and to deny territorial sovereignty based on maritime rights is to reverse cause and effect. The Philippines' denial of China's territorial sovereignty over Ren'ai Jiao, based on the invalid and illegal ruling of the South China Sea arbitration, violates the ancient yet enduring principle of "the land dominates the sea" in international law and is fundamentally untenable.

Furthermore, the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) signed by China and ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, stipulated bilateral negotiations as the means of resolving border and other disputes. Clearly, the Philippines violated the rules.

"China doesn't accept or recognize the award, nor does it accept any claim or action based on the award," China's foreign ministry has said, and it also urged the Philippines to immediately remove the warship from Ren'ai Jiao and restore it to its unoccupied state. 

U.S. role behind the scenes

The U.S. is deeply involved in the Philippines' infringement and provocation activities at Ren'ai Jiao, instigating and supporting the Philippines in repairing and reinforcing the illegal "grounded" warship, and sending military aircraft and warships to the scene to coordinate with the Philippines. 

The U.S. government even openly voiced support for the Philippines' provocative actions. For example, the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty has boosted the confidence of the Philippines in its maritime provocations.

American media and think tanks are also hyping up the issue of Ren'ai Jiao by attacking and accusing China. One typical example is Project Myoushu. The project is mainly operated by members with backgrounds in the U.S. military, and its leader Ray Powell, served in the U.S. Air Force for 35 years. The project uses social media platforms to disseminate false information, constantly attacking and smearing the normal activities of Chinese ships in the South China Sea, mainly through speculation, baseless fabrication, manipulation of public opinion, exaggeration of the "Chinese threat" theory, and incitement of regional division.