San Francisco Asian Americans Hold Demonstration Against CCP’s Expansion Around South China Sea

Dozens of Asian Americans rallied and marched in front of the Chinese Consulate calling on the Chinese regime to stop its expansion and aggression in the South China Sea, in San Francisco on July 12, 2024. (Nathan Su/The Epoch Times)

Dozens of Asian Americans rallied and marched in front of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco on July 12, urging the Chinese regime to stop its expansion and aggression around the South China Sea that have threatened its neighboring countries.

July 12 marked the eighth anniversary of the Philippines’ victory in the South China Sea territory disputes against the Chinese regime. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines under Annex VII of the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. The ruling clarified that China’s historic rights claims over the maritime area near the Philippines have no lawful effect.

“China lied, people died,” shouted the protesters who joined the July 12 event in celebration of the 2016 international court’s ruling and in protest against the Chinese military’s provocative behavior in recent months near the Philippines.

“We reject China’s continuing piracy as shown by its illegal patrolling, water-cannoning, use of lasers, and physical and kinetic harm inflicted upon soldiers trying to supply food and medicines to soldiers guarding the Ayungin Shoal,” the event organizer, the Filipino American Human Rights Alliance (FAHRA), wrote in a statement to The Epoch Times.

In recent months, the territory disputes between China and the Philippines have escalated, and actions taken by the Chinese coast guard have injured Filipino soldiers.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin openly criticized China’s actions at a May press conference in Honolulu,

“We’ve been very clear to everyone, to include Beijing, that the kind of behavior that we’ve seen where Filipino crews are put in danger ... sailors have been injured and property damaged, that’s irresponsible behavior and it disregards international law,” Mr. Austin said.

“We defy China’s creeping invasion and occupation of territories of our land as part of its expansionist policy in Asia,” FAHRA’s statement said.

“We reject China’s attempts to steal food from our poor fishermen whose livelihood is further stifled by China’s piracy at sea.”

A Filipino activist at the demonstration, Rodel Rodis, said “China is getting the best fish and has left 120 million Filipinos depending on poor quality fish.” He said that the powerful Chinese fishing vessels came and scooped most of the fish in the sea near the Philippines. The Philippine fishing industry now has to supply farm-grown fish to local people, but “farm-produced fish are not as good as the fish from the sea,” he said.

Last year, the Chinese regime published a new version of its national map, which provoked territorial disputes around the South China Sea between China and India, Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Taiwan. China’s new map has claimed sovereignty for about 90 percent of the South China Sea’s maritime area.

“We have to stop China from expanding worldwide,” said Jack Duong, a Vietnamese activist at the event.

He criticized the Chinese regime’s efforts to build military facilities in the South China Sea region.

“The CCP has been stealing technologies from America, polluting the globe, and taking territories that do not belong to them,” he said.

Rad Abarrientos, chair of the California chapter of the National Youth Movement for the West Philippine Sea, told The Epoch Times that they were not protesting against Chinese people.

“This is not about the people of China. This is about the Chinese Communist Party. This is about Xi Jinping,” he said.

There were several Chinese immigrants among the demonstrators.

Zheng Yonghua is a Chinese activist who joined the protest waving a flag that read “Free Cantonia.” Mr. Zheng said he is a member of the Cantonia Independence Party, an organization that promotes the independence of China’s Canton region. He said that he came to join the demonstration to protest against the communist regime’s global expansion.

“We don’t want the control of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.