China attempts to turn the South China Sea region insular as a counter to the United States promoting the QUAD and AUKUS to remain in the region as a vigilant force to project its rules-based order policy in Asia and Indo–Pacific.
For the first time, China engineers a ‘joint’ declaration by itself and the Asean to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, describing the endeavor “the common aspiration of countries in the region”.
China’s state-supporting media, the People’s Daily gives the game away by reporting the incident thus: “The historical trend of peace and stability in the South China Sea is irresistible, and the trend of the times for regional unity and cooperation is irresistible. Forces outside the region insist on playing geopolitical tricks in the region, deliberately creating tension and conflicts in the region, and they will end up in vain.”
The paper says the declaration, at the end of the 25th China-ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, “demonstrates the common will and firm determination of China and ASEAN countries to eliminate external interference and maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea”. It shows that “countries in the region have full confidence, Wisdom and ability to handle the South China Sea issue well”, it says.
The declaration also includes conditions that China is insistent on to give its intrusions into the South China Sea legitimacy. So, the declaration proposes to “continue to explore and undertake practical maritime cooperation initiatives, including in fields such as marine environmental protection, marine scientific research, safety of navigation and communication at sea, search and rescue operation and combating transnational crime”.
The fact is China is involved in myriad disputes with countries around the South China Sea. It projects its dominance by exhibiting its military power in the region and uses its conditional fiscal credit schemes as the carrot to woo the countries. And it is opposed to the US interfering in its activities in the region.
It maintains that building the South China Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation is an important goal of China’s South China Sea policy. To this end, it is intent on deepening China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership.
It has since succeeded in getting the declaration signed and issued as the first political document signed by China and Asean on the South China Sea issue. On the face of it, China says the declaration ensures “the basic stability of the situation in the South China Sea and created favorable conditions for the development and prosperity of the region and the in-depth development and comprehensive upgrading of China-ASEAN relations”.
But that cannot hide the obvious political nature of the declaration that China authored. To begin with, the joint statement reaffirmed that “disputes over territory and jurisdiction should be resolved peacefully through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned”, pointing out the only way to resolve the South China Sea issue.
China steers the arguments towards what it calls a “dual-track approach” for maintaining stability. The approach is so defined: “…countries directly concerned resolve specific disputes through negotiations, and China and ASEAN countries jointly maintain regional stability.”
This is in keeping with the Chinese Communist Party’s long-standing policy that “the countries directly concerned should resolve the South China Sea disputes through negotiation and consultation on the basis of respecting historical facts and international law”.
The benefit of this approach is to keep the United States away from the region. People’s Daily explains: “The regional security situation is facing profound changes. In order to maintain their hegemony, some countries outside the region have sowed discord everywhere, and frequently dispatched military aircraft and warships to show off their power in the South China Sea, causing regional countries to worry about the security and stability of the South China Sea.”
The paper says the South China Sea is not a “safari park” for countries outside the region, let alone an “arena” for great power games. The implications of such descriptions are clear. It is not fully clear yet, though, if the Asean countries which signed the declaration are agreeable to the western papers not intruding their region at all for providing security.
China also understands it is not an easy task to convince the Asean members. Getting a declaration signed is one thing, implementing its charter is another. That is why, as People’s Daily admits, currently, China and ASEAN countries are actively promoting consultations on the “Code of Conduct in the South China Sea” on the basis of fully and effectively implementing the Declaration.
Author
