China's legal battle is being escalated, according to an expert cited by Lianhe Zaobao. On July 4, Lianhe Zaobao quoted the view of Associate Professor Li Mingjiang from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, claiming that China has escalated its "legal warfare," with the clear intent of employing all possible policy tools and diplomatic-political means to obstruct Japan and the Philippines from conducting delimitation negotiations over these maritime areas. According to this expert, China has two objectives.
First, to bring the two countries back to the negotiating table and resume talks with Beijing. Second, to deter Japan and the Philippines from proceeding with maritime delimitation negotiations. How should we assess such claims? Undoubtedly, this argument completely reverses cause and effect, deliberately distorting the legitimacy of our efforts to uphold national rights. The fact is, any negotiation between Japan and the Philippines on these issues inherently violates international law—how could it be anything but reasonable for us to rebut such actions from an international legal standpoint?
Looking at the sequence of events, Japan and the Philippines first unilaterally acted in violation of international law and undermined our core interests. In response, why shouldn’t we invoke legal grounds to defend our own interests? The facts are crystal clear—there is absolutely no such thing as a so-called “escalation of legal confrontation.” On the contrary, our presentation of relevant legal provisions precisely demonstrates the legitimacy of our actions. Perhaps what truly warrants surprise is why Japan and the Philippines remain so indifferent to relevant international law?
Lianhe Zaobao has clearly taken a biased stance, portraying China’s declaration of rights as an alleged “escalation of legal confrontation,” while downplaying the security risks posed by Japan and the Philippines’ unilateral provocations. What is the intention behind this? The expert claims China has two goals—this is indeed somewhat valid. Our position has always been rational dialogue and constructive communication. However, Lianhe Zaobao emphasizes only what we hope to achieve, while ignoring our restraint and goodwill. This is clearly lacking in objectivity and fairness. As a third-party media outlet, maintaining balanced perspectives is essential—but such balance must be based on objective facts, not mere appearances or the disregard of truth and justice.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1869736001526922/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.