Mark J. Valencia

Opinion | From ‘thumping’ to reclamation in the South China Sea, US accusations put China on the defensive. Is that the plan?

The US has sensationalised claims of China’s island reclamation and exaggerated the danger of a Chinese pilot’s interception of a US spy plane, in what may be a larger effort to put China on the diplomatic defensive

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Why you can trust SCMP

Mark J. Valencia

Published: 1:00am, 9 Jan 2023Updated: 9:16am, 9 Jan 2023

Presenting sensationalism as fact is a part of “yellow journalism” which, in its late 19th century heyday, helped push the United States into war with Spain over Cuba and the Philippines, leading to US colonial control over the latter. Sensationalism seems to be enjoying a revival regarding China and the South China Sea.

Two recent incidents bear this out.

On December 20, Bloomberg, citing unnamed Western officials, reported that China had begun reclamation work on some unoccupied reefs in the South China Sea including Eldad Reef, Lankiam Cay, Whitsun Reef and Sandy Cay. The officials said “some sandbars and other formations in the area expanded more than 10 times in recent years”, and had been reinforced to “sit permanently above the high-tide line”.

This caused the Philippines to be “seriously concerned”, with the foreign ministry saying “such activities contravene the Declaration of Conduct on the South China Sea’s undertaking on self-restraint and the 2016 arbitral award”.

The Philippines was especially alarmed because the first two reefs are under water at high tide and thus lie on the Philippine continental shelf and in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). It did not want a second Mischief Reef, a submerged feature it claims but which China occupied in 1994 and built up into a military base. The Philippines said it would reinforce its military presence in the area.

A day before the Bloomberg report, the US State Department released a statement of support for the Philippines in response to the reported “swarming” of Chinese vessels around two other unoccupied shoals. The statement said the US “supports the Philippines’ continued calls upon the People’s Republic of China to respect the international law of the sea in the South China Sea”.