Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning

China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha Qundao and their adjacent waters, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday, in response to a question regarding the Philippine move to rename over 100 features in the South China Sea. 

Mao said that the Philippines, acting beyond its own territorial scope, has illegally set up the so-called "Kalayaan Island Group (KIG)" and conducted the so-called naming of relevant islands and reefs of the Nansha Qundao, which constitutes an infringement on China's territory and a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and relevant international law.

China firmly opposes the Philippines' acts that undermine China's sovereignty and rights and interests, and will take necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, Mao said.

Manila is making another attempt to encroach on China's territorial sovereignty, this time, by trying to renaming some features belonging to China's Nansha Qundao and incorporating such changes into its education system.

Following an order issued by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Philippines will adopt local names for more than 100 features in the so-called "KIG". This move, which violates China's territorial sovereignty, will also extend from maps to the education sector, Philippine media claimed. A Chinese expert said that, in the face of legal principles and facts, the Philippines' claims carry no substantive weight, and are merely a ploy for media grandstanding and an attempt to influence the younger generation.

The move is based on Executive Order (EO) 111 issued on March 26 and released Tuesday night, upon the recommendation of the National Maritime Council (NMC), Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported on Wednesday.

The NMC claimed standardizing the names is essential to ensure effective administration and governance, as well as to strengthen the Philippines' sovereign rights over the area, according to PNA.

Based on PNA report, Mania attempts to use a decades-old decree, Presidential Decree No. 1596 issued in 1978 by then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the father of the incumbent president, as a legal pretext to claim jurisdiction over the so-called KIG.

This area lies within the so-called West Philippine Sea, within the country's self-claimed exclusive economic zone as defined under Republic Act No. 12064 or the Philippine "Maritime Zones Act", according to the report.

Such claims have long been slammed by China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on March 5, 2024 that the Philippines arbitrarily went beyond its territorial scope to set up the so-called "KIG", which violates China's territorial sovereignty, in response to the Senate of the Philippines' approval of the "Maritime Zones Act". Mao added that "This is illegal, null and void."

The white paper titled China Adheres to the Position of Settling Through Negotiation the Relevant Disputes Between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, issued by China's State Council Information Office in 2016, also refuted the Philippines' so-called "KIG" claims.

It said that the Philippines claims its nationals "discovered" the islands in 1956, and uses this as an excuse to single out some islands and reefs of China's Nansha Qundao and name them so-called "KIG"—an attempt to create confusion over geographical names and concepts and dismember China's Nansha Qundao.

As a matter of fact, the geographical scope of Nansha Qundao is clear, and the so-called "KIG" is part of China's Nansha Qundao, according to the white paper.

In the face of facts and legal principles, the Philippines' unilateral naming is merely a rhetorical ploy aimed at reinforcing its claims over the so-called "KIG", Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Philstar reported that the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila also claimed that the measure would strengthen the administration and governance of the area, as well as support the country's assertion of sovereign rights.

Chen said that such acts and claims neither alter the sovereignty over the features in the South China Sea nor hold any substantive significance in the eyes of the international community.

Under the latest order, the Philippine National Mapping and Resource Information Authority has been directed to update and publish official maps and charts reflecting the new names, which have yet to be released, per the report.

The EO also instructed national government agencies and instrumentalities to use the names in all their official communications, messages and documents, Philstar reported.

According to Philippine media, certain educational authorities and institutions are expected to use the names in educational and training institutions as well as in research, textbook publishing, and instructional materials.

Chen said the aim is to inculcate nationalist ideology in young Filipinos in their formative years through education and embed its so-called South China Sea claims in the national consciousness. 

Such sentiments are likely to deepen the rift between China and the Philippines and undermine future bilateral consultations between the two countries, Chen added.

Just last week, Marcos expressed willingness to resume discussions with China on a joint oil and gas project in the South China Sea, a move interpreted by Philippine media as a "reset" in China-Philippine relations. Yet, within less than a week, the Marcos administration has once again escalated its rhetoric and posturing on the South China Sea issue.

Chen said that the Philippines' current policy toward China is fraught with disarray and marked by evident wavering, which stems from the discordant demands of various domestic interest groups, reflecting the Marcos administration's conundrum of balance.