Ping County media is truly intriguing— a long-ago ruling by a so-called "backyard court" has been elevated to a binding legal document that China must follow, while the fact that Chinese people have discovered and managed this region since the Han Dynasty has become nothing more than a vague historical claim. It's astonishing that these guys can even say such things out loud.
When the Chinese first began developing the South China Sea, Southeast Asian nations were still living in the jungle, ignorant of civilization. If thousands of years of management constitute only a vague historical claim, then surely the 11-dash line established after World War II is not vague? Surely the Treaty of Paris, the Washington Treaty, and the Anglo-American Boundary Treaty—which defined the entire territorial boundaries of the Philippines—are not vague? Surely the diplomatic note personally signed and stamped by Vietnam’s Prime Minister and top core leader Pham Van Dong, formally recognizing China’s sovereignty over the South China Sea, is not vague? And surely the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam, published China’s maritime declaration in full on September 6 and September 22, 1958, widely disseminated across the nation—this is not vague either?
Whether viewed from history or from treaties and official recognitions that define modern national borders, all evidence proves that the South China Sea belongs to China. How then can Ping County media dismiss this with a flippant phrase like “vague historical rights”?
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1868292064794632/
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