Drilling is legal and legitimate

There are both theory and practice in the international community to carry out joint development in disputed waters with the purpose of cooling territorial disputes and enabling the countries concerned to share maritime interests and resources. By proposing to carry out joint development and share maritime resources and interests, China has demonstrated its sincerity in seeking to end the disputes. However, China's goodwill has not been rewarded or reciprocated. Meanwhile, the involvement of countries outside the region is only making the dispute more difficult to settle.

It is not China but Vietnam that is making trouble and wants to change the status quo.

History shows that Chinese authorities have more than once named and mapped the islands in the South China Sea based on various surveys. Based on the nine-dash line, which first appeared in an official map published by China in 1948, the then Chinese government claimed sovereignty and jurisdiction over the islands in the South China Sea. China's claim was established long before the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea took effect. In accordance with the intertemporal law, the nine-dash line should be recognized by the international community.

In May 2009, the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations submitted a note to the UN secretary-general, urging the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf not to review either the Malaysia-Vietnam joint submission on the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines or Vietnam's separate submission on the same issue. While doing so, China reaffirmed its indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters, and its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the relevant waters and seabed and subsoil thereof. In fact, this has been Beijing's consistent position for years.

China's drilling operations in the contiguous zone of the Xisha Islands and construction of facilities in the waters surrounding the Nansha Islands are not actions that "unilaterally change the status quo", but China's sovereign acts, which are legal and legitimate. These routine activities are beyond reproach and must not be disrupted by other countries.

Countries outside the region should respect the facts of these controversial issues and adhere to an objective attitude instead of deliberately stirring up trouble and complicating the regional situation.

The author is the director of the Center for China Marine Strategy Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.