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South China Sea
ChinaDiplomacy

South China Sea: how Beijing uses pinyin translations to double down on territorial claims

  • Chinese foreign ministry and state media articles have increased their use of pinyin for place names in the contested area
  • It follows a growing number of flare-ups between Beijing and Manila, including one run-in just a week ago

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A Philippine Coast Guard vessel at the Spratly Islands, which is called Nansha Qundao in pinyin. China’s foreign ministry and state media have been increasing the use of pinyin terms for disputed parts of the South China Sea as a way to reinforce China’s claims over the contested waterway. Photo: AP
Alyssa Chen
Beijing has ramped up efforts to use pinyin – the romanisation of Mandarin script – when referring to disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea in English, seeking to bolster its territorial claims to the waterway.
It comes amid worsening relations between China and its Southeast Asian neighbours, particularly the Philippines, following a run-in between the Chinese coastguard and four Filipino nationals on a fishing boat last week.

In statements and articles, the Chinese foreign ministry and state media have dramatically increased their use of pinyin. For instance, they have replaced “Nansha Islands” with “Nansha Qundao” to refer to the Spratly Islands.

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Similarly, throughout 2023, Second Thomas Shoal, which has been the focal point of the tensions between China and the Philippines, was increasingly called “Renai Jiao” instead of “Renai Reef”. The reef is referred to as Ayungin Shoal by the Philippines.
The term “Nansha Qundao” appeared nine times in 2023 out of 29 times in total. Before 2023, it was used intermittently, mostly in July 2016 when Beijing strongly rejected The Hague’s ruling that China had no historical rights to obtain resources in the South China Sea within the “nine-dash line”.

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Searches on the foreign ministry website showed more than 700 results for Nansha Islands. However, the frequency of its use in its statements has been falling each year. It was only used nine times in 2023 – and has been all but abandoned since August.

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