Remove China’s illegal ‘matrix’ of the cow’s tongue line

The story of China (China) illegally putting the U-shaped line map into information and communication products … is not new. Since more than a decade ago, Vietnam discovered a series of books, children’s stories, textbooks, globes, video games, tourism publications, clothes, etc. printed with the cow’s tongue map. This.

The “won’t fight but won” scheme

The story of China putting the cow’s tongue line into cultural, cinema, and entertainment products… is not only hot in Vietnam but also in many countries such as Japan, the Philippines, and even in many Western countries. Including the cow’s tongue line in publications that seem “non-political”, but in fact it is an important part of China’s strategy to convince the domestic and international public to believe in the “reasonable” existence of the line. this illegal cow tongue.

In terms of political culture, China is greatly influenced by the military tactics of Sun Tzu: The principle of military use is to use tactics to win; then use diplomacy to defeat the opponent; and using soldiers to fight directly is just a defeat. GS-TS – Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao said that China has been applying “three lines of strategy” in the East Sea to “win without victory”. In 1999, two Chinese generals published the book “Unlimited War”. In 2003, China officially ratified the concept of “three lines of strategy”, including psychological warfare, media warfare, and legal warfare. All three types are complementary and complementary to each other.

China is trying to propagate the illegal cow’s tongue line through many channels. However, many countries believe and agree on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Photo: TIMES

By fighting public opinion, China wants to weaken the opponent’s will to fight, while at the same time ensuring spiritual strength, unity and unity in the country. Beijing seeks to influence public perception at home and abroad, create public opinion in favor of China’s position, and confuse all their opposing views on the South China Sea.

On the other hand, many experts say that China is adept at creating public opinion about its legitimacy in the South China Sea, turning it from a place that is not China’s according to international law to a place where China has maritime disputes with other countries. . Like the old story of Zeng Sam killing people, China hopes that a lie big enough and repeated many times will come true.

Mr. Thao emphasized: “China attaches great importance to “first defeating the enemy”, that is, always looking for ways to “take action earlier than the opponent”, namely using radio, broadcast, and broadcast first to lead the debate. , showing superior strength, thereby wanting the opponent to give up on their own. Therefore, they often require foreign companies that want to do business in China to have a website showing the cow’s tongue line; Scientific articles when published in international journals must also have the cow’s tongue line.

Never been recognized

GS-TS – Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao also commented that China is very skillful in combining legal war with propaganda war, especially through books and movies. Mr. Thao gave an example: In June 2015, China released “Dao Tomb” with the appearance of many famous actors. The film describes the excavation of an ancient tomb of a Ming Dynasty engineer located in what China calls “Xisha” (actually the Paracel Islands of Vietnam), near Vinh Hung Island (actually the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam). is the Phu Lam island of Vietnam). This is not outside the purpose of wanting viewers (especially young people) to believe that China has a long-standing sovereignty over the Paracels.

However, Mr. Thao also affirmed that from the legal factor, only maps showing the border line enclosed with international treaties are valid to prove sovereignty. The U-shaped line first appeared around 1947, in a private rather than state-published atlas. Then, the U-shaped line appeared on a map of islands in the South China Sea published by the Department of Geography, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of China government in February 1948.

“This map has been continuously opposed by the international community ever since. The case of the Philippines against China was decided by the Arbitral Tribunal in 2016, which can understand that China’s claims in general in the East Sea and the nine-dash line in particular are inconsistent with international law. Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao said.•

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Vietnam firmly rejects the map of the cow’s tongue line

Vietnam has repeatedly rejected the so-called “nine-dash line”, as well as maritime claims contrary to international conventions, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982.

Vietnam believes that all forms of propaganda, promotion and posting of content and images have the nature of infringing on Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, as well as its sovereign rights and financial rights. Vietnam’s national judgment on relevant waters in the East Sea established in accordance with UNCLOS 1982 is null and void. Vietnam requires countries and organizations to respect Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, as well as related waters in the East Sea, to remove and amend the contents that do not exist. Fit.

(Excerpt from her statement.) LE THI THU HUNGwhen he was a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a press conference on the afternoon of August 25, 2022)