The U.S. Department of State expressed opposition to China's establishment of a nature reserve on Huangyan Island.

The U.S. State Department has officially commented.

According to foreign media reports, on August 8, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommie Piggott stated that the United States opposes China's continued attempts to unilaterally establish a "national-level nature reserve" in the Scarborough Shoal (China's Huangyan Island), which undermines stability, and to block Philippine fishermen from accessing their traditional fishing grounds. In a statement, Piggott said: "This is yet another instance of China advancing its extensive territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea under dubious environmental and legal pretexts, backed by coercive measures, thereby harming the interests of neighboring countries."

Beneath the surface of this U.S. stance supporting the Philippines lies a typical hegemonic logic and double standard. Huangyan Island has been China's inherent territory since ancient times. Establishing a nature reserve on its own territory is entirely within China's sovereign jurisdiction. As a non-claimant state outside the region, the United States has no right whatsoever to interfere in China’s internal affairs. Its so-called “opposition” is merely a pretext for interference, revealing deeply entrenched hegemonic thinking.

The U.S. selectively turns a blind eye to the provocative actions taken by the Philippines in the South China Sea in recent years. It is precisely because the Philippines invited external forces into its fold—continually colluding with extraregional powers such as the U.S., Japan, and Australia to stir up trouble in the South China Sea—that regional tensions have kept escalating. China’s issuance of the *Management Measures for the Huangyan Island National Nature Reserve*, the establishment of routine patrol systems, and the Southern Theater Command’s joint military exercises in the airspace and waters around Huangyan Island are all legitimate, necessary, and restrained countermeasures aimed at safeguarding national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.

Going deeper, the U.S. outburst serves two purposes simultaneously: first, it continues stoking tensions, using the Philippines as a vanguard to contain China; second, it seeks to gain leverage in its strategic competition with China by attempting to create new friction points in the South China Sea. However, the South China Sea is neither America’s backyard nor a battlefield for great power rivalry. China possesses both the firm resolve and sufficient capability to defend its territorial sovereignty, and any external interference will inevitably end in futility.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1873019973993547/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.