China is paradoxically breaking the law to maintain its rule of law in the South China Sea

Clashes have become more regular in this volatile waters over the past 18 months, as Beijing increases its aggression.

The most recent incident occurred on August 31, when China Coast Guard (CCG) Ship '5205' deliberately rammed Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Ship '9701' multiple times near Sabina Shoal, 75 nautical miles off the coast of Palawan. The Philippines has permanently stationed the ship there since April as China has tried to secretly develop the shoal as an artificial island like other locations in the South China Sea.

The presence of two tugboats of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) suggests that China was trying to tow the Philippine ship after immobilising it. Such intentions were revealed on August 26 when a powerful Type 055 cruiser of the PLAN chased away a couple of small PCG boats that had set out to resupply the '9701' at Sabina Shoal.

The two small PCG ships found themselves surrounded by six CCG ships and three PLAN warships. The PLAN warned them, “This is a Chinese warship. We are taking steps to control the Philippine Coast Guard Ship '9701' which is illegally staying at Jianbin Jiao [the Chinese name for Sabina Shoal]You will not be allowed to enter Jianbin Jiao for any replenishment.

In fact, this was the fifth time in the month of August alone that China had confronted Philippine law enforcement vessels or aircraft within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

China's statement about the events at Sabina Shoal that the PCG boat “unprofessionally and dangerously caused trouble and deliberately rammed the CCG ship,” was far from the truth. Lyle Morris, Senior Fellow for Foreign Policy and National Security at the Asia Policy Center for China Analysis, commented, “No, it was actually the CCG deliberately rammed the PCG ship. The CCG's actions and behavior threaten the safety of the PCG and its crew and should be condemned by all law-abiding countries.”

In fact, video footage released by the PCG clearly shows that the Chinese ship deliberately rammed the Philippine boat three times. Coincidentally, a US Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was flying overhead at the time of the incident.

“The China Coast Guard will take necessary measures to firmly suppress all acts of provocation, disturbance and violation, and firmly safeguard the country's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” CCG spokesman Liu Dejun said.

Beijing often accuses Manila of “sensationalising the South China Sea issue and tarnishing China's international image”. However, China is successfully damaging its own image without anyone's help.

China says its actions are “professional, restrained, and appropriate,” but Chinese behavior has been unanimously condemned. After the latest Sabina Shoal incident, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “The PRC's unlawful claims of 'territorial sovereignty' over maritime areas where no land exists, and its increasingly aggressive actions to enforce them, threaten the freedom of navigation and overflight of all countries.”

The same US statement reiterated that Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty “prohibits armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft – including vessels of its coast guard – anywhere in the South China Sea.”

Soon after, Chen Zhidi, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Affairs of China's Ministry of Natural Resources, wrote an article in the Chinese newspaper Global Times. He wrote that the Philippines “is constantly carrying out unilateral provocations and escalating disputes, trying to meet the demands of some countries outside the region that are trying to destabilize the South China Sea and contain China, in exchange for vague and far-reaching 'support', 'assistance' and 'guarantees.'”

“Unless Manila fundamentally changes its mindset of using the South China Sea issue for geopolitical speculation, China is fully prepared both psychologically and operationally for any possible pushback or provocation by the Philippines. If the Philippines tries to take a step forward, China will firmly push back. China will not allow the Philippines to gain any advantage,” Chen threatened.

China's ongoing actions and threats also make a mockery of the bilateral consultation mechanism on the South China Sea. In July, China and the Philippines agreed on a “temporary arrangement” to ease the tense situation. However, as many have found, guarantees issued by China are often not worth the paper they are written on.

China hides behind phrases like “indisputable sovereignty” and “in accordance with laws and regulations.” However, the Permanent Court of Arbitration declared in 2016 that its extensive territorial claims in the South China Sea had no legal basis. It is funny that China now sometimes cites the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and international rules to criticize the Philippines.

UNCLOS has four key elements – defining maritime zones (i.e. establishing rules for demarcating state maritime boundaries); balancing coastal-state rights and international freedoms; protecting the marine environment; and bringing stability through a dispute resolution process.

“However, the P.R.C. is systematically and dangerously undermining all of these fundamentals, threatening to return to its former status quo of destabilization in the global maritime domain,” warned Peter Alan Dutton, a professor at the Stockton Center for International Law at the U.S. Naval War College, in a report for the U.K.-based Council on Geostrategy. Dutton explained: “Beijing claims that it has ancient rights to make its own maritime claims, despite its ratification of U.N.C.L.O.S., and it asserts domestic jurisdiction to enforce them. In doing so, it is undermining the bedrock principles of U.N.C.L.O.S., threatening to further deteriorate the international law of the sea.”

In terms of maritime domain, China's vague nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea is “completely contrary to the fundamental principle that land dominates the sea,” Dutton highlighted. Its unilateral claim over 2.7 million km2 of water is completely infringing under international law, and China can never reverse that 2016 decision.

Unfortunately, since then, Beijing has “increased its use of pressure to force acceptance of its claims. The effect is to deprive Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia of resource rights that international law clearly allocates to them.”

China has blatantly violated international law several times, such as using active sonar against Australian Navy divers in November 2023. Disregarding the environmental provisions of UNCLOS, China dredged 100 square miles of healthy coral reefs during 2013-15 and severely damaged the underwater environment by building seven artificial islands.

UNCLOS provides for a mandatory dispute resolution procedure, which China follows.

Despite the benefits of the convention, it refuses to fulfill its responsibilities. This was demonstrated by the refusal of officials to accept, participate in, recognize and implement the 2016 award. China's Foreign Ministry declared that “the award is void and invalid and has no binding force. China neither accepts nor recognizes it.”

Dutton of the U.S. Naval War College assessed, “Prior to the PRC's challenge, UNCLOS had steadily advanced maritime order and stability for decades because it provided a set of rules that balanced the interests of all states. But the PRC's approach to the four fundamental elements of UNCLOS has steadily undermined the universality of its provisions. As a state with substantial power and influence in the international system, the PRC is naturally and inevitably a rule-maker. By breaking carefully negotiated agreements in UNCLOS, the PRC creates space for others to advance their own visions and threatens to reverse historic progress in maritime order.”

ANI asked Rear Admiral Andrew M. Sugimoto, Deputy Commander, US Coast Guard (USCG) Pacific Area, in a telephonic conversation about the best ways to counter China's growing aggression. He replied: “One way is to demonstrate what are the international rules-based orders that are very important for us to follow, and we should set an example with our partners. It's to point out the violations that countries are doing that are contrary to those things, and help them understand how the rest of the world wants to work.”

Rear Admiral Sugimoto also said, “We strongly condemn the collision of the ships. The whole purpose of rules on the water is that we do not collide with each other, and so this is a clear act of intimidation by one country that wants to exert its influence over another country in complete disregard of the rules and existing international law.”

The USCG official said global consensus matters and if the world continues to condemn China's actions, “maybe they will change the way they do business”. He added: “China wants to be seen as a member of the world that has rules and enforces them, but that doesn't seem to be the case when they do things like ramming unarmed ships or shooting water cannons. When they uphold the rules themselves and stand up and set an example, only then will the rest of the world know they are truly world leaders and not rogues.”

However, this hope appears to be futile. Beijing is willing to pay the price of its reputation for illegally occupying maritime territory in the South China Sea, as the number of dangerous incidents by Chinese ships and aircraft has increased.

Rear Admiral Sugimoto, headquartered in Alameda, California, said he was “grateful for the Philippines for responding to this in a professional and really safe manner, because it really shows that this nation, the Philippines, stands for the conduct that we all believe we want in this world, not for someone else who keeps bullying smaller countries.”

He said the PCG is like family to the USCG. “We have been working with the Philippine Coast Guard in many different ways, through training, by helping them organize and build the Philippine Coast Guard.” The USCG has transferred ships to the Philippine Coast Guard, and helped operate and maintain them.

“We are doing everything we can to help the Philippine Coast Guard. We are here for training, capacity building, legal frameworks, creating the necessary laws to support them, maritime domain awareness, any of those things.”

Rear Admiral Sugimoto said, “…We stand with the Philippines and we condemn the actions of aggressive individuals who attempt to obstruct or prevent humanitarian supplies from reaching their fellow citizens…” He said sinking ships or using water cannon “is not what we call safe and professional operations”.

Rear Admiral Sugimoto said the US adheres to the same standards that China is violating. “We believe strongly in upholding every country's right to transit freely, as long as they do so in accordance with customary law and international law. That's an important part of maintaining a rules-based order. Likewise… when Chinese ships or other ships from around the world come north from Alaska or other places in the Arctic, we don't aggressively harass them. When they want to go through the Aleutian Islands, we respect their right to transit, and so we expect that we will have the same ability to do so wherever we are in international waters so that we can navigate freely and safely according to the rules that exist.”

Sugimoto asked what international rules allow ramming as a measure to uphold international law, especially when ramming rules are designed to prevent ships from colliding with each other. He summed it up by saying, “So it's a bit surprising to say I'm going to break the law to uphold the law. It doesn't make any sense, and I think most countries view it as unsafe and unprofessional conduct, which only highlights the ongoing bullying and gives it more prominence, right?”