亚太经合组织领导人非正式会议召开在即，菲律宾总统阿基诺承诺，要做 “完美东道主”，给予中国“最热情友好的接待”。APEC的主要目标是促进亚太地区的自由贸易和可持续增长以及繁荣。菲律宾期望作为世界第二大经济体的中国领导人出席，努力营造良好氛围也在情理之中。更重要的是，APEC是经济论坛，南海问题是政治议题，当然不应该出现在今年APEC会议的议程中。
然而，美国似乎心有不甘。
南海作为连通太平洋和印度洋的战略枢纽，是世界上第二大海上航道。世界贸易的80%依靠海运，三分之一的全球贸易和一半以上的大型油轮及货轮都取道南海，每年来往的大小船舶总计在4 万艘以上。经马六甲海峡进入南海的油轮是经过苏伊士运河的3倍、巴拿马运河的5倍，经过南海运输的液化天然气是全世界液化天然气总贸易量的三分之二。
南海就在中国的家门口，是中国对外经济往来的重要通道。没有哪个国家比中国更希望、更重视、更需要南海的和平、安全和稳定。这条能源供应线上的航运安全和自由对中国、美国、日本、韩国，以及东南亚各国至关重要。维护南海航行自由不仅符合南海各国和域外国家的共同利益，也是包括中国在内的南海各国的郑重承诺。
中国在1992年颁布了“领海及毗连区法”（ Law of the PRC on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone），在1998年颁布了“专属经济区和大陆架法”（Law of the PRC on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf）；中国在1996年批准了《联合国海洋法公约》(United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)并宣布了中国大陆和西沙群岛(Xisha Islands)的领海基线(baseline)。虽然还没有公布南沙群岛(Nansha Islands)的领海基线，但这并不影响中国在南海的相关权利，包括南沙群岛拥有领海、专属经济区和大陆架的权利。
日前，美国打着航行自由的旗号，不顾中方的一再劝诫，执意派军舰非法进入中国南沙群岛有关岛礁的邻近海域，是违反国际法的蓄意挑衅。
美国所谓的“航行自由”，其实是在刻意回避国际法上的航行制度，是一种很不专业的托词。航行自由不是无所顾忌、恣意妄为，想怎样航就怎样航，它涉及海洋法上的航行制度，包括领海的无害通过 (innocent passage)、海峡过境通行(transit passage)和群岛海道通过(archipelagic sea lanes passage)。在专属经济区的航行应适当顾及 (due regard) 沿海国的权利和义务，并应遵守沿海国的法律和规章。在公海上的航行自由，也须适当顾及其他国家行使公海自由的利益。
无论是领海的无害通过、用于国际航行海峡 (straits used for international navigation) 的过境通行、群岛水域(archipelagic waters)的群岛海道通过，以及专属经济区和公海的航行自由，都不是漫无边际率性而为，而是受到相应国际法规制和限制的。
美国一意孤行的任性之举，严重威胁中国的主权和安全，危及岛礁人员和设施的安全，违反了《联合国宪章》和国际法。是以航行自由之名，行炫耀武力之实。
联系美国近期在南海的一系列“非常之举”，“航行自由”怕是要被美国玩坏了。面对无事生非的挑衅，中国不会在涉及领土主权、安全和海洋权益的问题上向美让步。美国要挟东盟国家、共同挑战中国，搞乱南海的图谋注定不会得逞。（国家海洋局海洋发展战略研究所副所长贾宇）
资料来源：http://world.chinadaily.com.cn/2015-11/17/content_22475732.htm
US ploy in South China Sea bound to fail
By Jia Yu (China Daily) Updated: 2015-11-17 10:54
President Xi Jinping’s visit to the Philippines for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting from Nov 17 to 19 has quelled speculations that the maritime disputes with the host nation could make him decide otherwise.
Last week Philippines President Benigno Aquino III assured visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that the APEC meeting would focus on Asia-Pacific regional economic cooperation without raising the disputes in the South China Sea, as most members including China had agreed. But the US State Department has hinted that the South China Sea issue could be raised during the meeting despite Manila’s efforts to prevent the agenda from deviating from free trade and sustainable growth in and common prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region.
As the world’s second-largest sea-lane that connects the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea is of great strategic importance to all countries in the region, as well as the US and European countries.
Nearly 80 percent of global trade depends upon maritime transportation, and about one-third of it is carried out through the South China Sea, which sees the passage of at least 40,000 ships a year. The number of oil tankers that sail through the Strait of Malacca, a critical passage through regional waters, is almost three times that of the Suez Canal and five times of the Panama Canal. Two-thirds of the global trade in liquefied natural gas is also conducted through the waterway.
China has more stakes that any other country in safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea, because it is a major channel of its global economic network. So ensuring smooth transportation (of energy sources) and navigation through the South China Sea is not only conducive to the shared interests of all Asia-Pacific economies - such as China, the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - but also economies elsewhere.
China promulgated the Law on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone in 1992, and the Law on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf seven years later. It ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1996 and publicized the territorial baseline of its mainland and Xisha Islands.
True, it is yet to disclose the territorial baseline of its Nansha Islands, but that does not nullify its legal rights in the surrounding waters, including territorial sea, exclusive economic zones and continental shelf. This makes the entry of US guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen into the waters near China’s islands in the South China Sea last month a violation of international law.
The US’ attempt to justify its action on the pretext of “freedom of navigation” is a rather clumsy argument that ignores some specific clauses in international law, for instance, innocent passage in territorial seas, transit passage in straits used for international navigation, and sea-lane passage through archipelagoes.
Also, the freedom of navigation clause in international law is neither unconditional nor beyond international regulations. Freedom of navigation can neither be above an affected coastal state’s laws and rights in the exclusive economic zones nor can it override other countries’ interests in the high seas.
Washington’s recent provocative moves have infringed upon Beijing’s maritime sovereignty and security in the South China Sea, the United Nations Charter as well as international law. They were also intended to show the US’ military muscles on the pretext of practicing freedom of navigation.
But China is not one to give in when it comes to its territorial, maritime and security interests, and the US is unlikely to succeed in its designs by instigating ASEAN countries to challenge China’s maritime rights in the South China Sea.
The author is deputy director of the China Institute for Marine Affairs attached to the State Oceanic Administration.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2015-11/17/content_22476316_2.htm