The US Embassy in the Philippines, in disregard of facts, made baseless attacks against China’s legitimate and lawful law enforcement activities to safeguard our rights at Ren’ai Jiao in China’s Nansha Qundao in the past few days. The statements and remarks of the US Embassy go against the spirit of international law including the UNCLOS. It’s a sinister attempt to endorse the Philippines’ acts of infringement and provocation. We deplore and reject it.

Ren’ai Jiao has always been China’s territory. It is an integral part of China’s Nansha Qundao. The escalation of tension in the South China Sea has been inflated by the US actions. Since the beginning of this year, the US has been blatantly emboldening the Philippines’ acts of infringing upon China’s sovereignty and inciting and supporting the Philippines’ attempts to repair and reinforce its warship that was deliberately “grounded” on Ren’ai Jiao. The US even sent over military aircraft and vessels to assist and support the Philippines, and repeatedly sought to threaten China by citing the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty. What the US does has seriously violated international law and the basic norms governing international relations, seriously undermined China’s sovereignty and rights and interests, and seriously jeopardized regional peace and stability.

Ren’ai Jiao is a bilateral issue between China and the Philippines. China has all along been committed to properly managing differences through dialogue and consultation with the direct parties so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the South China Sea. In seeking selfish geopolitical interests, the US has incited troubles and magnified differences in the South China Sea. This is quite clear to countries in the region. Rather than being a self-claimed responsible power, the US actually created many instabilities across the world, leaving behind one mess after another. Now it attempts to destabilize the Asia Pacific region. Such scheme is doomed to fail.