On December 4, Philippine Coast Guard vessels 9701 and 4409 and government vessels 3002 and 3003 attempted to intrude into the territorial waters of China’s Huangyan Dao and made a dangerous approach to the normal law enforcement and patrol vessels of the Chinese Coast Guard. The Chinese side exercised control over them in accordance with the law and regulations. This is another farce organized and planned by the Philippines after China announced the territorial baseline of Huangyan Island.

Subsequently, the Philippines has continued to openly slander China's control measures and conduct provocative propaganda against China. In accordance with both domestic and international laws, China must take strict countermeasures against the Philippines and resolutely safeguard its territorial sovereignty as well as maritime rights and interests in Huangyan Island.

(Philippine Coast Guard vessels 9701 and 4409 and government vessels 3002 and 3003 attempted to intrude into the territorial waters of China’s Huangyan Dao on December 4. /CFP)

Under the increasingly complicated circumstances of the struggle between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, the Philippine side, which caused trouble on Huangyan Island, intends to achieve three goals:

First, the Philippines clearly knows that China has announced the territorial baseline of Huangyan Island, but it still insists on intruding into the territorial waters and colliding with Chinese law enforcement vessels. This move by the Philippines is intended to enforce the newly effective Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act and Maritime Zones Act, negate China's territorial sovereignty over Huangyan Island, and completely ignore the domestic measures taken by China to safeguard its sovereignty.

Second, the Philippines is clearly the instigator of this incident, but it has made a counter-charge in foreign social media and distorted the truth. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Tarriela used social media platform X to release live video after the incident, accusing China of deliberately sabotaging Philippine Coast Guard vessels and government vessels. The Philippine side, as usual, plays the role of a tragic person in order to continue to win the sympathy of the international community.

Third, the Philippine side has created an incident on Huangyan Island in order to continue to implement the ruling on the Huangyan Island issue in the South China Sea Arbitration Case. Based on the ruling, the Philippines does not recognize China's sovereignty and maritime rights over Huangyan Island, insisting that Huangyan Island belongs to the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. Therefore, the Philippine side once again launched a confrontation on Huangyan Island in order to let the international community know the legal status and rights of the ruling on Huangyan Island, with the intention of using the ruling to deceive international support.

China's counter-measures strongly demonstrate China's determination to resolutely safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in at least three aspects:

First, China has explicitly announced that Philippine vessels have entered the territorial waters of Huangyan Island, which shows that China exercises administrative jurisdiction based on the latest baseline of the territorial waters of Huangyan Island, which is in line with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and strongly proves that the sovereignty of Huangyan Island belongs to China. China has clarified the scope of maritime rights arising from Huangyan Island through law enforcement in its territorial waters, which provides clear guidance for our future law enforcement activities in the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of Huangyan Island.

Second, China resolutely responded to the publicity and hype of the Philippine side, and strongly demonstrated that the Philippine side was the culprit of the collision by releasing the live video. It can be seen from the Chinese live video that our side took panoramic pictures of the Philippine side suddenly reversing at a wide angle while sailing, deliberately colliding with our coast guard vessel. At such a dangerous moment of collision, the Philippine Coast Guard officers were still jumping up and down to film and collect the so-called evidence. This shows that the angle of the video released by the Philippine side is only partial rather than complete, and the Philippine authorities even ignore the safety of the people on board.

Third, China has exercised maximum restraint and patience in the collision incident and vigorously maintained peace and stability in the South China Sea. Peace and stability in the South China Sea serve the common interests of countries in the region, and the Philippines' provocative actions may trigger conflicts and undermine regional peace and stability. The purpose of China's warning is to remind the Philippine side to realize the seriousness of its wrong actions and to rein in at the brink of the precipice in time to avoid further deterioration of the situation. Only when the Philippine side stops infringement, provocation and publicity, can two sides resolve disputes through dialogue and consultation and achieve regional peace and stability.

The provocative action of the Philippine side not only failed to achieve the so-called goal of fishing and fishery protection, but also pushed China to exercise effective administrative jurisdiction in accordance with the latest territorial baseline of Huangyan Island.

Huangyan Dao is rich in various marine resources, with fishery resources being among them. In line with both domestic and international laws, China will adopt more measures to safeguard its fishery resources there. China will also resolutely curb any infringement acts by Philippine officials who use fishing as a pretext, thus protecting the legitimate fishing rights and interests. The Philippine side ought to refrain from further traveling down the path of confrontation.

(Xu Qi, Vice Dean, Institute of Foreign Rule of Law, Jinan University)