Why Manila Distorts a Procedural Regulation of China in South China Sea disputes -- From Perspective of Connectivity
The Chinese Coast Guard passed the Procedural Regulations on Administrative Law Enforcement (PRALE) of Coast Guard Agencies on May 15. After the South China Morning Post firstly reported it the next day, (i) the procedural regulation was distorted by Philippine media and some politicians to be a tool of Beijing to empower its coast guard to detain foreigners who “illegally trespassing” the South China Sea.
As a procedural regulation, it is not a substantive law. Only substantive law defines scope of application. So the PRALE actually says nothing about whether it will be used in disputed waters. And there are studies found that the new regulation is one of a series of regulations as supplement to Chinese Coast Guard Law issued in 2021, including two procedural regulations for handling criminal cases, passed on May 15 and December 6, 2023, separately.
The wording and terms of PRALE are very much alike and in accordance with China’s Exit and Entry Administration Law, and the Public Security Regulation on Procedures for Handling of Administrative Cases, which could be seen as the “land versions.” This could be another evidence that the issuing of the PRALE is not specifically targeting neighbor countries’ citizens illegally going to disputed waters in the South China Sea.
However, all the mainstream media in Manila, President Bong Bong Marcos and Senate, House leaders condemned “China’s illegal action to authorize its coast guard extensive powers to detain foreigners deemed ‘illegally trespassing’ South China Sea without trial.”
Why such a procedural regulation was distorted like that? Is that just a misunderstanding that triggered panic and anger in the Philippines? Looking back at what happened in the past two years, we could see that there are ill intentions to escalate tensions in the region to serve US strategic purpose of containing China.
Border is a kind of connectivity, and border disputes are negative effects of such connectivity. As connectivity is playing a more and more important role in the 21st century due to the deeper and wider interdependence, countries have to know how to take advantage of positive effects of connectivity and avoid negative effects of connectivity. The recent Philippine distortion of China’s PRALE of coast guard is a good example for us to observe how negative effect of connectivity is used by US to create rifts between Beijing and Manila.
Disputes related to waters, islands and reefs in the South China Sea are obvious negative effects of connectivity among related countries, especially for China, as China has disputes with more countries than others due to historical reasons. China and other territorial claiming countries are trying to solve disputes through the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) passed in 2002. During the 20 years from 2002 to 2022, consensus played important role in peacefully solving small dispute incidents.
Regarding to China-Philippines relations, it was in harmony during the Duterte Administration. When Bong Bong Marcos came to power in June 2022, he declared to continue his predecessor’s China policy. He visited China in January 2023. Until that time, it seemed nothing had changed.
But actually after the visit of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to West Phillipine province of Palawan in November 2022, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) gradually became a leading power to confront China and escalate tensions in the South China Sea.
PCG spokesman Jay Tarriela stated clear that the tactics of PCG used since February 2023 is called “Transparency Initiative.” It was designed to “expose China’s aggressive actions” in the South China Sea. In the past year, the “Transparency Initiative” spread lies, such as Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) used “military-class laser weapon” against PCG, which turned out to be a laser pointer, and again and again provoked countering measures from CCG, including blocking PCG sending construction materials to the BRP Sierra Madre to avoid it turned into a permanent outpost on the disputed Ren’ai Reef. BRP Sierra Madre is a rusted WWII warship deliberately grounded at Ren’ai Reef in 1999 to occupy the reef. So, by creating frictions, exposing disputes and escalating conflicts, the PCG is making the most of the negative effects of territorial disputes with China. Under domestic public pinion pressure, Bongbong Marcos condemned China to show he is safeguarding the sovereign rights. The bilateral ties have since been gone downward.
The U.S. government and security think tanks are behind the Marcos government and the PCG. Though still facing US court ruling of multi-billion-dollar unpaid compensation to human rights victims under his father’s rule, Bongbong Marcos became the first foreign leader given full honors at Pentagon under Biden Administration when he paid visit to the United States in May 2023. A Reuters report disclosed how the US courted Marcos to thwart China. (ii) In a similar report of the Washington Post titled “Biden courts son of Philippine dictator he once opposed,” Ruben Carranza, former commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government in the Philippines, which was tasked with recovering the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth, was quoted as saying that “The U.S. needs Marcos Jr. as a doorman to hold the door open for U.S. Forces ... On the other hand, Marcos needs the U.S. in order to stay in power.” (iii)
The idea of “Transparency Initiative” is obviously inspired by US think tanks. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has a program named “Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.” It’s interactive maps provide geospatial information on maritime Asia. Raymond Powell, a fellow at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation of Stanford University, launched Sealight Project to “expose China’s aggressive behavior in Grey Zone in the South China Sea.” There are several more US projects use satellite images, signal of Automatic Identification System and other methods to trace Chinese naval, coast guard and public vessels’s activities in the South China Sea. And by sharing information with PCG, they provide intelligence and intellectual support to PCG.
It is worth mentioning that the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, the Sealight Project and other US programs tried to provoke disputes of other claiming countries, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, with China, but not successful. That makes the Marcos administration more precious in confronting China in Asia. The US military has added 4 more bases in the Philippines last year and deployed Typhon mid-range missile this year. These developments make many Asians worrying about militarization of the region which will threaten peace and stability and jeopardize cooperation and prosperity. They don’t want to see what happened in Europe today, happens in Asia tomorrow.
With all these facts as background, it is not surprising that a procedural regulation is distorted. Every bit of “valuable” clue will be used to enlarging the negative effects of connectivity. The Phillipines and China will be neighboring countries forever. It is time to rethink how to deal with each other. Negative effects of connectivity will harm both, with US profiting from it and achieving its goal of containing China. The Philippine people won’t benefit from deteriorating of relations with China. But corrupted Philippine officials and politicians will benefit economically or politically from US support. ###
Reference:
i. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3262911/beijing-clarifies-coastguards-detention-powers-activists-converge-scarborough-shoal-south-china-sea
ii. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/us-china-philippines-marcos/
iii. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/30/marcos-biden-philippines-united-states/