Nigeria Times

By Nan Xi, People’s Daily

Data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 5 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, which is a truly remarkable achievement for the world’s second-largest economy.

In the face of immense challenges and difficulties, China’s economic growth in the first quarter outpaced other major economies, and it’s expected to maintain this lead in the first half of this year.

Recently, the World Bank also raised its forecast for China’s economic growth in 2024. China’s economy remains an important engine and stabilizer for global economic growth.

China has remained determined and forged ahead without turning back in steering its economic operation.

The country has made a considerable number of achievements in innovation since the beginning of this year, including the Chang’e-6 lunar probe bringing back the world’s first sample from the far side of the moon, the Shenzhen-Zhongshan link, a core transportation hub project in the country’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, setting 10 world records, and a group of Chinese telecom engineers building the world’s first field test network for 6G communication and intelligent integration.

The continuous improvement in scientific and technological self-reliance injects new momentum into the country’s efforts to accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, cultivating a growing trend toward innovation and green development-oriented transformation.

As a result of effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth in the economy, the 5-percent growth conforms to the country’s pursuit of high-quality development.

China has maintained high spirits and a firm commitment to reform along its journey of high-quality development.

The country firmly believes that the key to solving difficulties and problems on the path forward is to comprehensively deepen reforms.

China has vigorously promoted the implementation of measures facilitating efficient, one-stop, and application-free government services, winning widespread praise.

The country has also continuously advanced innovation and improvement in macroeconomic policies. China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, established a 500 billion yuan ($68.93 billion) relending facility to support sci-tech innovation, technical transformation and equipment renewal..

By expanding its 144-hour visa-free transit policy to 37 ports across the country, China has further boosted its high-level opening up.

Earnestly breaking through deep-seated institutional barriers, the country has translated its institutional advantages into governance effectiveness and efficiency, better nurturing the potential, vitality, and creativity for high-quality development.

China’s exceptional ability to solve prominent issues in economic and social development through reform exemplifies the country’s successful experience and instills unwavering confidence for its seizing strategic opportunities and winning strategic initiative in the future.

Looking at the Chinese economy with a long-term and broad vision, it’s not difficult to find that China enjoys distinct strengths such as a socialist market economy in systemic terms, a supersize market in terms of demand, a full-fledged industrial system in terms of supply, and abundant, high-caliber labor forces and entrepreneurs in terms of human resources. China’s economic development is self-generative, resilient and has many potentials.

With reforms propelling momentum, policies fostering synergy, and markets injecting vitality, China’s economy is poised to deliver an even more remarkable performance.

By Liu Zhiqiang, People’s Daily

China’s national economy was generally stable with steady progress in the first half of 2024, according to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on July 15.

According to preliminary estimates, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half of 2024 reached around 61.68 trillion yuan (about $8.5 trillion), up by 5 percent year on year at constant price.

Since the beginning of this year, the momentum of world economic growth is sluggish, and effective domestic demand in the Chinese market remains insufficient, leading to increasing difficulties and challenges in current economic operations.

Against the beak global backdrop, the Chinese economy still delivered a sound performance.

In the first quarter of this year, China’s GDP growth rate outpaced that of the United States, the Eurozone, and Japan. Considering the situations home and abroad in the second quarter, it is expected that China’s economic growth rate will maintain its leading position in the first half of the year, and the country will remain an important engine and stabilizer for the world economy.

Despite facing both overall and structural pressures, China’s economic growth, especially in the labor-intensive service sector, has continued to recover, with the employment situation remaining generally stable during the first half of this year.

The country has witnessed improvement in the relationship between market supply and demand, while the price level maintained moderate growth during the period.

Besides, the country’s foreign trade reached a new high in the first half of this year, with the goods trade volume reaching 21.2 trillion yuan and export products holding solid competitive advantages.

In the meantime, steady progress has been made in industrial transformation and upgrading, showing a growing trend toward innovation-driven and green development.

In the first half of this year, the proportion of the value-added industrial output of China’s high-tech manufacturing companies above the designated size, namely industrial firms with an annual main business revenue of at least 20 million yuan, in the total value-added industrial output of the country’s industrial enterprises above the designated size rose to 15.8 percent, up 0.6 percentage points from that of the first quarter.

The country’s manufacturers of intelligent and green new products, such as integrated circuits, service robots, new energy vehicles (NEVs), and solar cells performed impressively during the first six months of this year, maintaining double-digit growth in production.

New technologies like big data and artificial intelligence have created new consumption scenarios, while new consumption models such as livestreaming e-commerce and instant delivery continued to emerge, driving an 8.8-percent year-on-year increase in online retail sales of physical goods during the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, the combined power output of hydropower, nuclear power, wind power, and solar power companies above the designated size increased by 13.4 percent year on year, accounting for a higher share in the total power output of the country’s industrial enterprises above the designated size. Besides, the energy consumption per unit of GDP in China continued to decline.

While maintaining stable economic growth, authorities from different regions in China have made continuous efforts to create a new pattern of development, adjust industrial structures, and improve development quality and efficiency in the first half of this year, striving to stimulate the internal impetus and innovation vitality of businesses, an NBS spokesperson said at a press conference.

These efforts have provided steady and sound momentum for the country’s high-quality development, the spokesperson said.

The leading role of scientific and technological innovation has been strengthened, nurturing new quality productive forces for China.

In the first half of this year, the value-added industrial output of China’s high-tech manufacturing companies above the designated size increased by 8.7 percent year on year, while the modern service industry, with typical fields including information transmission, software, and information technology services, maintained double-digit growth in value-added industrial output.

During the period, China’s production volume of intelligent products such as 3D printing equipment, service robots, and smart watches increased by 51.6 percent, 22.8 percent, and 10.9 percent year on year respectively.

Besides, the country saw a 10.6-percent year-on-year growth rate in investment in its high-tech industries during the first six months of this year, 6.7 percentage points higher than that of its overall investment.

Green and low-carbon transformation in China has been deepened, with continuous improvement in energy production and consumption structures.

In the first half of this year, China’s NEV output increased by 34.3 percent year on year, while its production of supporting products such as charging piles and automotive lithium-ion batteries grew by 25.4 percent and 16.5 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, China has been accelerating the construction of a clean energy system. Preliminary estimates show that the country’s proportion of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption increased by 1.9 percentage points year on year in the first half of this year.

China’s high-standard opening up has continued to deepen during the first six months of 2024.

In the face of weak global economic growth momentum and increasing external uncertainties and instabilities, China has made solid strides in improving the quality and stabilizing the quantity of its exports, while steadily expanding the scale of imports. The improvement in both quality and quantity of foreign trade has made positive contributions to China’s economic growth.

In the first half of this year, the export value of products such as automobiles, ships, and integrated circuits in China increased by 22.2 percent, 91.1 percent, and 25.6 percent year on year respectively, with net exports of goods and services contributing 13.9 percent to the country’s overall economic growth.

China has been actively expanding its “circle of friends” for global economic and trade cooperation. For instance, its foreign trade value with Belt and Road partner countries increased by 7.2 percent year on year in the first half of this year.

At the same time, the country has continued to expand its visa-free policy to include more countries and promote people-to-people exchanges with other countries, leading to a significant surge in the number of foreigners visiting China for business, tourism, and reunion with relatives and friends.

In the first half of this year, China recorded over 14 million inbound trips made by foreigners, among which 8.54 million entered the country visa-free, accounting for 52 percent of the inbound trips and representing a year-on-year surge of 190.1 percent.

Despite rising challenges from home and abroad, the Chinese economy has maintained a generally stable trend, the NBS spokesperson pointed out.

China’s economic growth is not only quantitative but also qualitative. The country has delivered a commendable and substantial economic performance, said the spokesperson.

From a medium to long-term perspective, the economic fundamentals that sustain long-term growth remain unchanged, and the trend toward high-quality development has not changed in China, according to the NBS.

By Li Hongxing, People’s Daily

In a busy, dimly lit production workshop on the second floor of a building of a Chinese pharmaceutical company in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong province, no workers were found, except a staff member overseeing the high-speed production line for packaging of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

“If we didn’t have visitors, we wouldn’t even need these few lights on. The robots work ‘silently’ here,” said an executive of the company, namely Guangzhou BaiyunshanZhongyi Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a subsidiary of China’s leading TCM manufacturer Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited (GPHL).

The workshop is a digital workshop, according to the executive, who noted that operations such as pill packaging, sealing, inspection, and boxing are basically handled by intelligent control technologies and advanced sensor detectors.

The digital workshop does more than just save energy. Compared to traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing methods, the digital production line has increased productivity by 148 percent, reduced labor costs by 74 percent, and improved per capita efficiency by 289 percent.

By empowering development with digital and intelligent technologies and building smart factories for TCM production, the time-honored TCM brand is sprouting new buds in its transformation and upgrading.

As the world’s first TCM company to enter the Fortune Global 500 list, GPHL has turned to digitalization and intelligentization for breakthroughs in injecting new vitality into TCM, a treasure of ancient Chinese science, as well as the production of TCM decoction pieces and Chinese patent medicine, a part of traditional manufacturing.

The group has explored digital traceability for medicinal herbs, pioneered smart TCM pharmacies, and built benchmark digital factories.

Through a series of reform measures for innovation, the group has empowered over 30 types of its products with digital and intelligent technologies, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the TCM industry while giving a powerful boost to the modernization and internationalization of TCM.

The experience of GPHL has shown that by seizing the initiative in transformation and upgrading, companies, regardless of their industry, can enhance their competitiveness and gain a market edge.

In fact, more companies in the country have experienced the effectiveness of intelligent and digital transformation in addressing various common problems.

In particular, many companies have carried out transformation based on their products and specific situations, finally standing out in competition by leveraging digital technologies in a targeted manner to address their weaknesses.

For example, a dairy company in Guiyang, southwest China’s Guizhou province, has integrated data chains across milk sources, factories, and marketing to determine production based on sales and breeding based on production, achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

A manufacturing company in Mianyang, southwest China’s Sichuan province, has reduced its product defect rate by 5 percent and annual production costs by over 10 million yuan through technological means including intelligent sensing and visual inspection.

By focusing on development needs, addressing key challenge, and adopting targeted means, companies have avoided detours and carried out effective transformation and upgrading, gaining fresh momentum for high-quality development.

Believing that an innovation and quality-oriented path is the inevitable choice for driving high-quality development, companies are marching forward toward bigger ambitions.

“Only by constantly striving for progress can we move forward,” said the above-mentioned executive of Guangzhou BaiyunshanZhongyi Pharmaceutical Company Limited.

Many Chinese enterprises are promoting technological innovation and industrial progress based on their actual situations, continuously unleashing innovative and creative vitality to help cultivate new quality productive forces.

The concept of “progress coming from the desire to advance” has also served as a method for the development of various companies, fields, and industries across the country.

Maintaining a consistent pursuit of high-quality development, China has been tirelessly expanding and extending the breadth and depth of development, overcoming difficulties, and innovating boldly to write new chapters and reach new heights in its growth.

By Zhang Niangsheng, Bai Yuanqi, Zhang Yunhe, People’s Daily

Fruits from ASEAN countries are entering the Chinese market more efficiently and conveniently in recent years.

This favorable trend is attributed to the full implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the China-Laos Railway, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC), and other projects promoting regional connectivity, along with the rapid development of e-commerce platforms and cross-border cold-chain logistics systems, as well as China’s favorable policies and measures facilitating customs clearance.

People’s Daily reporters recently visited Chanthaburi province, the renowned fruit capital in eastern Thailand, Youyi Port in Pingxiang city, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and the China-ASEAN (Chongzuo) Fruit Trading Center in Chongzuo city.

They tracked the journey of ASEAN fruits from their place of origin to the dining tables of Chinese consumers.

Chanthaburi province, Thailand

At 10 a.m., People’s Daily reporters arrived at a mangosteen orchard in Chanthaburi province, where they received a warm welcome from an 84-year-old woman named Mary. She handed freshly picked mangosteens to everyone.

“These mangosteens are all picked from century-old trees. We have over 70 such old trees in our orchard,” said Mary’s daughter, Chenisa.

Before the break of dawn the next day, the Thai Mangosteen Association (TMA) headquarters was brightly lit and bustling with activity.

“Farmers have been bringing in the day’s mangosteen harvest since sunset,” explained Pippat, vice president of the TMA. In less than two years since its establishment, the association has already gathered a membership of over 1,000 farmers.

“The huge Chinese market has brought opportunities for our rapid development,” he added.

At 6 a.m., several trucks were waiting to unload and transfer goods outside a mangosteen processing factory in Chanthaburi.

Inside the processing workshop of the factory, giant sorting machines rumbled as over 10 workers carefully checked each mangosteen passing by, sorting them according to size and ripeness.

“These fruits are destined for China. In recent years, our products have been selling increasingly well, largely because of the vast Chinese market,” said Nye, one of the workers.

“Eastern Thailand’s Chanthaburi, Rayong, and Trat provinces are major tropical fruit-growing regions especially famous for mangosteens and durians,” said Monsit, governor of Chanthaburi province.

The development of the fruit industry in eastern Thailand has created numerous job opportunities, with tens of thousands of local people now working in this industry, Phaisanthanawat said.

Now, farmers enjoy a better quality of life due to their growing income. Meanwhile, the thriving fruit industry has contributed greatly to local economic and social development, Phaisanthanawat noted.

“We are looking forward to more and closer cooperation with the Chinese market,” added the governor.

Youyi Port, China

At 8 a.m., Youyi Port in China’s Pingxiang city was bustling with the stream of cross-border vehicles loaded with ASEAN fruits, filling the air with the aroma of fruit and the echoing sound of train whistles.

After pre-declaration, inspection at checkpoints, and weighing, refrigerated truck No. 98C18232 cleared customs smoothly.

Gan Jianxing, a person responsible for customs declaration for this batch of imported fruits, used his mobile phone to log into an app named “smart Youyi Port,” where information such as license plate numbers, cargo classification, and inspection platform codes was clearly displayed.

In an effort to facilitate customs clearance for imported fruits, Youyi Port has established a durian-dedicated channel and a green channel for imported and exported agricultural products, according to Huang Feifei, a customs officer from Youyi Port. 

The port has also introduced an intelligent auxiliary management system for inspection, Huang noted.

“Currently, the system automatically assigns inspection tasks to all 76 inspection platforms at the port. Refrigerated trucks carrying imported fruits are given priority in inspection, leading to a significant increase in the overall vehicle turnover rate,” Huang explained.

Youyi Port is China’s largest land port for fruit imports and exports. In recent years, the port has been advancing its intelligent transformation, achieving remarkable results.

Inspection space turnover efficiency has increased by 35 percent, and the quarantine processing time has been reduced by nearly 70 percent at the port.

In 2023, fruit imports through Youyi Port totaled 23.92 billion yuan ($3.3 billion), a year-on-year increase of 262.9 percent.

The full implementation of the RCEP and the accelerated development of the ILSTC have helped streamline cross-border transportation procedures, leading to a notable enhancement of customs clearance efficiency and substantial time and cost savings, contributing to the booming fruit trade between ASEAN and China, said Pattama Namwong, president of the TMA.

China-ASEAN (Chongzuo) Fruit Trading Center

Stepping into the China-ASEAN (Chongzuo) Fruit Trading Center, reporters were greeted by digital screens showing live updates of fruit transactions.

As of June 30, 2024, the online platform of the center had completed a cumulative total of 174,654 international fruit trade transactions, with a trading volume of nearly 3.41 million tonnes and a transaction value of around 15.04 billion yuan.

“Thanks to the combination of an online trading platform with traditional trading models, ASEAN fruits can flow more smoothly to China,” explained Tan Weiping, an executive of the center.

Ye Hongsheng, a 24-year-old man who sells fruits via livesteaming at the center, said that ASEAN fruits like durian and jackfruit are selling well, and langsat and mango have also become popular choices for consumers looking to try something new.

“Now more and more consumers like to shop during livestreaming shows, and we’ve gained quite a number of loyal online followers,” he said.

“We help sell durians from over 1,000 mu (about 66.67 hectares) of orchards in Chanthaburi, Thailand, and we also cooperate with growers in Buon Ma Thuot city of Dak Lak province, and Tien Giang province in Vietnam on durian planting,” said Ye’s mother, while checking the durian import list.

Sources say that fresh fruit transportation primarily relies on cold-chain air freight and road transport.

Fresh fruit can generally be delivered to central China’s Hunan and Hubei provinces within 12 hours, while transportation to east China’s Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and the country’s northern regions can typically be completed within 48 hours.

“The trade relations between China and ASEAN are becoming increasingly close, and Chinese consumer demand for ASEAN fruits has surged. We are optimistic about the market prospects of ASEAN fruits in China,” said Lou.

By Zhao Zhanhui, He Linping, Luo Shanshan, People’s Daily

In recent years, China has been steadily pushing forward the reform of its market access system, one of the fundamental systems underpinning the country’s socialist market economy. By continuously lowering market entry thresholds, increasing transparency of market rules, and creating a fairer market environment, China has fully stimulated the endogenous power and innovation vitality of various business entities.

China’s negative list system allows all types of business entities to equally enter industries, fields, and businesses that are not forbidden by the list in accordance with the law, without the requirement for further government approval.

In 2013, with the establishment of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in east China’s Shanghai, the country’s first negative list for foreign investment was unveiled and implemented. The list was extended to other pilot FTZs in 2015 and implemented nationwide in 2016.

Apart from the negative list for foreign investment, China has also established the negative list for market access, the first country in the world to introduce the market access negative list into its domestic economic governance.

In 2016, the negative list for market access was piloted in four provinces and municipalities in China, and then expanded to 15 provinces and municipalities in 2017. In 2018, a nationwide unified negative list for market access was launched, marking the expansion of the list to the whole country.

By implementing the system of a negative list for market access, China has clearly defined the boundaries of government responsibility at the entry stage, fully leveraging the decisive role of the market in resource allocation and institutionalizing this approach.

Both the negative list for foreign investment and the negative list for market access started with pilot programs before gradually expanding to more regions based on the experience gained.

The negative list system has driven relevant institutional reforms in approval, investment, and regulation, effectively modernizing China’s governance system and capacity.

At the same time, China has constantly improved the mechanism for dynamic adjustment of the negative list. For instance, the current market access negative list for 2022 has reduced the number of prohibited and restricted items by 64 percent compared to the 2016 pilot edition.

The negative list system represents an important arrangement of China’s institutional opening up.

The gradual shortening of China’s negative list for foreign investment parallels the growth of foreign-invested enterprises in China.

The 2018 edition of the country’s negative list for foreign investment specified that by 2022, China would remove foreign ownership limits in the automobile industry and lift the regulation preventing foreign automakers from forming more than two joint ventures in the country.

In October 2018, the German carmaker BMW Group drafted an agreement to acquire a 25-percent stake in its Chinese joint venture, BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA).

In 2022, as China fully implemented the shortened negative list for foreign investment, the agreement was formally implemented, increasing BMW Group’s stake in BBA to 75 percent.

In April this year, the German automaker announced an additional investment of 20 billion yuan ($2.75 billion) in BBA’s production base in Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning province, ready to start localized production of its new models.

The improved negative list system represents China’s efforts to promote institutional opening up. China has been committed to promoting high-standard opening-up, expanding market access, shortening the negative list for foreign investment, and enhancing the opening up of modern service industries. It has already announced the removal of all restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector.

The continuously shortened negative list has helped accelerate the opening up of China’s service sector.

In March this year, Standard Chartered Securities China Limited (SCSCL), the first newly-established wholly foreign-owned securities firm in China, officially began operations.

The removal of market access restrictions in China’s financial sector has motivated Standard Chartered Group to accelerate its business expansion in the country.

“The Chinese market has been the largest contributor to Standard Chartered’s global network revenue for many years, and we look forward to the broader opportunities brought by China’s continuous opening-up,” said Jerry Zhang, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (China) Ltd.

From the initial 190 items to the current 31 items in the national version and 27 items in the FTZ version, the shortened negative list for foreign investment has not only facilitated the growth of foreign-invested enterprises in China but also witnessed China’s accelerated high-standard opening up.

Institutional opening-up in China’s trade sector has also been advanced continuously.

On November 4, 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the third China International Import Expo held in Shanghai. He noted that China will continue to leverage the pioneering role of pilot free trade zones and free trade ports in steering opening up, and will introduce a negative list for cross-border services trade,

Eight months later, China released its first negative list for cross-border services trade. Shortly after, Khoo Wut Fat William, a lawyer from China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), registered and obtained certification from the department of justice in south China’s Hainan province, becoming the first legal consultant from Hong Kong SAR to join a Hainan law firm.

This year, China’s Ministry of Commerce rolled out national and pilot FTZ versions of negative lists for cross-border trade in services, extending the negative lists for services trade to the whole country and promoting the tiered opening-up for cross-border trade in services.

In the first five months of this year, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises in China increased by 17.4 percent year on year.

China attaches great importance to steadily expanding institutional opening-up and market access. By shortening the negative list for foreign investment and creating a more market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment, China will undoubtedly provide a broader market space and more opportunities of win-win cooperation for countries worldwide.

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

Recently, the Philippines, in collusion with certain countries, has once again brought up the so-called South China Sea arbitration. They claimed to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea, but kept exaggerating the so-called award on the South China Sea arbitration, which is illegal, null and void.

Their true intention is to persist in infringing on China’s territorial sovereignty and provoking tensions in the South China Sea, using the South China Sea issue to disrupt regional peace and stability.

Rehashing the so-called South China Sea arbitration cannot conceal the Philippines’ infringement of China’s lawful rights and interests, nor can it change the fact that the Philippines’ frequent provocations, backed by external forces, have led to tensions in the South China Sea.

The so-called South China Sea arbitration was a political farce disguised as a legal proceeding, and the so-called arbitral award is riddled with errors and biases, which have violated China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests and undermined peace and stability in the South China Sea.

This unilateral and malicious arbitration on the South China Sea by the Philippines eight years ago has never aimed to resolve disputes nor safeguard regional peace and stability, but rather to deny China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the region.

The ad-hoc arbitral tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration established at the Philippines’ unilateral request had neither legitimacy nor jurisdiction, and the arbitral award rendered by it has clearly overstepped its authority and has no binding force.

China neither accepts nor participates in the South China Sea arbitration, nor does it accept or recognize the award or any claims and actions based on it. China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall under no circumstances be affected by illegal awards.

The Philippines’ treatment of this illegal award as gospel does not help resolve its maritime disputes with China, still less add legitimacy to its illegal claims in any way.

By repeatedly claiming that the arbitral award is “legally binding,” the Philippines and certain countries have disregarded and trampled on international law.

The rights and wrongs in the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines are crystal clear: China’s sovereignty and rights in the South China Sea were established in the long course of history and duly recognized by international treaties and accords which are not to be infringed upon by any illegal awards.

The Philippine territory is defined by a series of international treaties, which have never included

China’s Huangyan Dao and any islands or reefs of Nansha Qundao.

The Philippines’ illegal claims have no historical or legal basis. By repeatedly taking actions that complicate the dispute, what the Philippines truly attempts to do is expanding its illegal occupation of some islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Qundao.

The Senate of the Philippines has approved the so-called “Maritime Zones Act,” attempting to further enforce the illegal arbitral award on the South China Sea by domestic legislation and illegally include China’s Huangyan Dao, most islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Qundao, and their adjacent waters into its maritime zones.

Later, the Philippines further unilaterally submitted information to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf on the extent of its undersea shelf in the South China Sea, which has infringed upon China’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

These actions by the Philippines seriously violate China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.

Since last year, the Philippine government has breached its commitments and the common understandings with China, violated the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and repeatedly acted in bad faith.

It frequently infringed on China’s rights and made provocations at sea, brought in forces outside the region to form blocs and flex muscles in the South China Sea, and spread disinformation to vilify China and mislead the international perception on this matter.

Who is provoking and causing trouble in the South China Sea? Who is violating international law and endangering peace and stability in the region? The fact is crystal clear.

Anthony Carty, a British professor of international law, said in his book The History and Sovereignty of the South China Sea Islands that China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the Filipino claim to the Nansha Qundao is absurd. He noted that the so-called arbitral award violates the basic norms of the order of international relations and is part of the strategy of the United States (U.S.) and NATO to contain China.

The U.S. hypes up the so-called arbitral award as “legally binding” completely out of its hegemonic ambition of undermining regional peace and stability and containing China’s development.

The U.S. has a hand in a series of actions that escalated regional tensions, including groundlessly attacking and criticizing China’s legitimate and lawful actions aimed at safeguarding its rights in the South China Sea, deploying the land-based Mid-Range Capability missile system, known as Typhon, to the Philippines, and conducting joint military exercises with the Philippines.

The U.S. has covertly influenced the South China Sea arbitration and established a so-called “legal foundation” for the Philippines’ territorial claims. Now it is using the Philippines as a tool to maintain the hegemony, endorse and back the Philippines’ provocations that infringe upon China’s lawful rights.

The U.S. actions seriously disrupt regional peace and stability and run counter to the common aspirations of the region for peace and development.

Attempting to pull chestnuts out of the fire for the U.S., the Philippines will only get itself burnt.

Maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea is the trend of the times and the common wish of countries in the region.

History and facts have proven that properly managing and resolving disputes through dialogue and consultation between parties directly concerned is the best approach to maintaining overall stability in the South China Sea, while making willful and arbitrary infringement and provocation will only add obstacles to resolving relevant issues.

China is a staunch defender and builder of international maritime rule of law. Firmly upholding the international maritime rule of law, China does not and will never accept or recognize the so-called award on the South China Sea arbitration.

Relevant countries shall respect history, honor their commitments, stop provocations, and stop connivance. They shall return to the right track of dialogue and negotiation, and take concrete actions to uphold the authority of international maritime law and international fairness and justice.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)