In September and October 2024, two incidents occurred between China-Vietnam and China-Indonesia in the South China Sea have triggered high attention of US official and academia.

On September 29, 2024, a Vietnamese fishing boat illegally intruded Paracel Archipelago. Chinese vessel Sansha Zhifa 301 took law enforcement actions immediately, and conflicts occur between two parties. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated on his X account on October 3 that "US is deeply concerned by reports of dangerous actions by Chinese law enforcement vessels against Vietnamese fishing vessels”, stressing that "the US calls on China to desist from dangerous and destabilizing conduct in the South China Sea". Afterwards, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Vientiane, Laos for the 19^th East Asia Summit held on 11 October 2024, raised the issue of China's law enforcement actions in the South China Sea, and told ASEAN the U.S. is“very concerned about China's increasingly dangerous and unlawful activities in the disputed South China Sea”, and pledged“the U.S. will continue to support freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight in the Indo Pacific”. In addition, Philippines also expressed support to Vietnam, with its President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said it was“regrettable that the overall situation in the South China Sea remains tense and unchanged”due to China's actions, which he said“violated international law”.

For the incident Indonesian Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) “expelled” China Coast Guard vessel on October 21, 2024, voices are heard from US official and academia. Raymond Powell, Founder and Director of SeaLight, a maritime transparency project of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University, said on his X that "The China Coast Guard harassed Indonesia's oil and gas exploration activities in the Arwana Block from 17-21 October (during President Prabowo's inauguration). Indonesia responded by sending its own vessels to‘expel’the Chinese ship”. A US based independent journal, Eurasia Review, published an article remarking on this incident, which determined China’s action as“infringement upon Indonesia's territorial sovereignty, jurisdiction over its maritime domain, and its economic interests, thus violates international law,” and criticized “China's activities in the North Natuna Sea represent a stark contradiction to the spirit of the COC.” This article even urged“Indonesia must adopt a more assertive posture, utilizing legal frameworks such as UNCLOS, forging diplomatic alliances, and enhancing its military presence to protect its territorial integrity.”

The reason why US continuously intervene in the South China Sea disputes and instigate the already intense conflicts between China and other claimant states could be summarized into the following three reasons.

First, US maliciously brings in chaos in the South China Sea situation, thus make it more difficult for claimant states to relieve tensions through diplomatic channels. By stirring up the disputes, US is trying to create more room for itself to intervene in the disputes, to verify itself as an indispensable part in solving the South China Sea disputes, and even positions itself as a “guardian” in the region, thus make it easier to realize its national strategy in the “Indo-Pacific” region.

Second, US tries to worsen the relations of China and ASEAN states and take advantage of it. By shaping an unfavorable international and regional environment, US compels ASEAN states to take sides, and enhance diplomatic ties, military and security cooperations with US. This is reflected in the achievements of recent years' US-ASEAN Summit, maritime security cooperation has always been a significant topic in US-ASEAN cooperation and an important aspect of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The US hyping up the South China Sea dispute aims to provide itself a reasonable excuse to strengthen maritime capability building with ASEAN and other allies and like-minded partners, thus jointly respond to China’s maritime activities.

Third, US is aiming to fabricate a negative image of China, and trying to ruin China's international reputation. By hyping up China's law enforcement activities, US condemn“China's violation of UN Charter, UNCLOS, general international law, and DOC”, thus characterize China as“a destroyer of international rule of law”that“bullying”its neighbor. US intends to use these false accusations to exert diplomatic pressure on China. This is a major intrigue that US always utilize to wage“public opinion warfare”against China.

The US’s hyping and disturbing strategy is resulting in severe negative impacts on the South China Sea situation.

Primarily, the US’s frequently interference brings in more unstable and uncertain factors in the region, which will actually intensify tensions and expands divergencies, other than relieving tensions or resolving disputes, thus obviously deviate from the common goals and expectations of maintaining peace and stability of the South China Sea.

Moreover, the US’s attempt to alienate China from ASEAN countries impedes the positive momentum of the development of bilateral relations between China-Vietnam and China-Indonesia. On Prabowo's first visit to China as elected president in April, both countries expressed expectations to develop bilateral relations for future years, consolidate mutual political trust, deepen closer cooperation, and injects positivity and stability into the whole region. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and Vietnamese president To Lam's state visit to China in August is also regarded as a new milestone of bilateral relations, which will open a new chapter in the two side's good-neighborliness and friendship, and is expected to promote comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and build a community with a shared future with strategic significance. However, recent incidents in the South China Sea and US's provoking undoubtedly brings negative influence to the positive progress of the bilateral relations.

Furthermore, the US's provoking strategies will hinder to the progress achieved in the ongoing negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC). At present, the third reading of the Single Draft COC Negotiating Text (SDNT) is in progress, and all parties are making every effort to make full use of the Guidelines for Accelerating the Early Conclusion of an Effective and Substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea and looking forward to the early conclusion of an effective and substantive COC. However, US disrupted the friendly environment of negotiation and consultation.

China has long been facing dilemma and challenges in law enforcement in the South China Sea, since the disputes among all claimant states are unlikely to resolve in the foreseeable future. Vietnam regards Paracel Archipelago as its fishing grounds, while Indonesia regard Bakamla as a“pioneer”to conduct intensive patrols and to monitor the waters of North Natuna for maintaining Indonesia's sovereignty and sovereign rights. Therefore, disputes between China-Vietnam, China-Indonesia and other claimant states are likely to erupt again in the future.

Faced with these unfavorable conditions, China Coast Guard vessel should continue to carry out routine patrols in waters under the jurisdiction of China in accordance with international law, Chinese domestic laws and regulations, and resolutely implement the“Administrative Law Enforcement Procedures for Coast Guard Institutions”that came into effect in June 2024, in order to maintain territorial sovereignty and maritime rights. In coping with potential conflicts, China stands ready to enhance communication and consultation with Vietnam, Indonesia and other claimant states through diplomatic channels to reduce misunderstandings and miscalculation, and handle maritime issues properly.

China has always been committed to crisis management, confidence building, and promote practical cooperation in the South China Sea, and call on all states should exercise self-restraint and refrain from exacerbating conflicts or escalating tensions, and to settle disputes peacefully through negotiation and consultation, and comply with legal obligations of the UN Charter, UNCLOS and general international law, and taking into consideration of historic titles and rights in the South China Sea.

From the joint practices of China, Vietnam, Indonesia and other South China Sea claimant countries in the past, it can be seen that all parties involved have the willingness, wisdom and ability to manage disagreements. Looking forward, with joint efforts of China and ASEAN states, US's hyping and disturbing strategy in the South China Sea will not succeed, and all claimant states will return to the right way of“dual track approach”in resolving the South China Sea disputes peacefully.

(Author: Zhang Qiyue, Assistant Director, Assistant Research Fellow, Institute for Global Governance Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.)