Screenshot of the report by Eurasia Review

The US-led cacophony of criticism of China for its actions in the South China Sea is reaching a ridiculous and dangerous level, and its accusation that China poses a threat to the existing international order is “hypocrisy”, an expert said in an opinion piece posted by Eurasia Review on July 6.

In the article titled “The South China Sea: who is the real threat to peace and stability?”, Mark J. Valencia, Adjunct Senior Scholar at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, pointed out that the situation in the South China Sea is far more complicated than the US would have it, and it’s far from enough to “demonize” China regarding its policies and practices there.

The US accuses China of “militarizing” the South China sea, but this is, in China’s view, an exercise of the right of self-defense enshrined in the UN Charter, said Valencia, adding that it is the US that continues to “militarize” the region with its forward deployed troops, assets and patrols, including flyovers by its nuclear capable B-52 bombers.

“In the face of such provocative US military and political actions, any country would prepare to defend itself – and so will China,” he noted.

Stressing that the US accusation against China of threatening the existing international order, including in the South China Sea, is “the height of hypocrisy”, the author said the US under Trump and Pompeo “has dramatically undermined the existing international order and the concept of international community”, citing examples of the US alienating many allies and friends, politically undermining NATO, as well as refusing to join the International Criminal Court and trying to obstruct its operations.

Moreover, it withdrew from the Paris climate accords, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Intermediate -Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and often violates the UN Charter by threatening and even using force, as it did in Iraq, to achieve its international political objectives, the author added.

“Most relevantly, it refuses to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, yet blasts China who is a ratifier for violating it,” Valencia said.

The author noted that the new “international order”, which is still centered on the US’ grand strategy, focuses on US interpretation of international law as well as the proselytizing of democracy and other American ‘values’.

The U.S. wants to strengthen the existing status quo in which it is the dominant actor and patron, while China wants respect for its enhanced status and its core interests, he noted.