温柔的谎言

当着东盟各个高层的面，我副外长孙卫东对美菲的做法连提三个严重，24小时后，数十艘中国船舰聚集仙宾礁，菲律宾察觉情况不妙。    Dozens of businesses, government offices, vehicles, and at least three police stations went up in flames in Freetown, Makeni, Kamakwie, and other cities across Sierra Leone from August 10 through 12, with over 113 people arrested and police introducing an emergency nationwide curfew and deploying tear gas and live ammunition to disperse crowds.,The curfew was lifted on August 13, with banks, businesses, government offices, and most stores reopened and communal services beginning to clear the damage. However, ramped-up security measures, including federal troop deployments to assist police, have been left in place.,What Happened?,Sierra Leone is one of the poorest nations in the world, ranking 186 out of 198 in a recent GDP purchasing power parity ranking. An estimated 80 percent of the population lives in poverty, many of them in the country’s rural areas. Like other nations in Africa, the country has faced special difficulties amid the global economic calamity brought on by COVID, and exacerbated by Western restrictions on Russian exports of agricultural goods and fertilizers amid the security crisis in Ukraine, which has caused a major jump in food prices.,AfricaAnti-Russia Sanctions Left Africa Without Access to Grain and Fertilisers, African Union Chief Says3 June, 11:13 GMT,As a net importer of both energy and food, Sierra Leone is especially vulnerable to global economic conditions, and along with food and fertilizers, fuel and electricity costs have also soared. Food prices alone have jumped by over 40 percent over the past few months, with a bag of rice once costing 350 leones now going for over 500. The country’s Central Bank recently removed three zeros from the national currency in a bid to restore confidence. The country has also been overcome by weeks of strikes by government workers, including doctors and teachers, and by small traders protesting poor conditions.,Coup Plot?,However, President Julius Maada Bio has also accused protesters of having ulterior motives beyond the cost of living crisis.,“This was not a protest against the high cost of living occasioned by the ongoing global economic crisis. The chant of the insurrectionists was for a violent overthrow of the democratically-elected government,” Bio said in an address on August 12 after returning to the country from a holiday in London.,Local media pointed to the chants of “Bio must go” among protesters as they gathered in the capital, and the president accused some of the demonstrators of consisting of “APC Warriors,” a reference to the opposition All People’s Congress party, which governed the country from 2007 until 2018, when Bio’s Sierra Leone People’s Party won national elections.,No doubt mindful of the violent civil war which shook the country between 1991 and 2002, claiming as many as 70,000 lives and displacing over 2.5 million people, Bio vowed that “in the coming weeks and months, [the] government will undertake necessary security actions meant to guarantee the peace and security of all citizens.”,“The security forces will, and must, act with great restraint and within their professional codes of service. But be assured that my government will crack down hard on violent insurrectionists, their collaborators, their sponsors and their supporters. My government will relentlessly fight those who would rather use terror and gruesome violence to achieve political goals,” the president said.,As a government, we will continue our engagement with Civil Society as we strive to promote sustainable peace, national cohesion and socio-economic development in Sierra Leone. #newdirectionagenda— President Julius Maada Bio (@PresidentBio) August 18, 2022,Bio did not elaborate on who these “sponsors” and “supporters” were, or whether they included any foreign actors.,Geopolitical Context,Like other African nations, Sierra Leone recently rejected calls by Washington and Brussels to show solidarity with the West and Ukraine and impose sanctions on Russia. But even before the escalation of the Ukraine crisis, relations between Freetown and Washington were tense at times. Last year, US President Joe Biden snubbed Bio by refusing to invite the African leader to the US’ so-called “Democracy Summit.” No reasons were given. However, neighboring Liberia, which faced mass civil unrest of its own between 2019 and 2020, and whose officials have been sanctioned by the US over suspected corruption, did get an invite.,While Sierra Leone maintains economic and political ties with its former British colonial masters, and remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Freetown has sought to expand its partnerships with other geopolitical power centers, including Russia and China. President Bio attended the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in 2019, where he discussed ways to strengthen economic cooperation between the distant nations. In February 2021, Freetown signed onto Moscow’s efforts to prevent the deployment of weapons in outer space. In May 2021, Bio spoke by phone to President Xi Jinping of China, where they discussed the friendly, “brotherly” relations between the two nations, as well Chinese assistance to Freetown in measures against COVID, and agricultural and economic development.,In this context, the reactions of major foreign powers to this month’s unrest have been telling. While the United States, Britain, and the European Union collectively expressed “grave concern” over the “disturbing reports of violence” and urged the parties to “stay calm, promote accountability and ensure respect for human rights,” China’s Embassy smoothed over the protests altogether, refraining from wagging its finger at Freetown and instead trumpeting the expanding cooperation between the two countries.,We are gravely concerned by reports of violence surrounding today’s demonstrations in Sierra Leone. We urge all parties to stay calm, promote accountability, and ensure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.— Bureau of African Affairs (@AsstSecStateAF) August 10, 2022,Similarly, while UK High Commissioner to Sierra Leone Lisa Chesney lectured President Bio about how “violence has no place in a democracy and the necessary investigation into August 10 can sit alongside de-escalation,” the Russian Embassy in the Republic of Guinea, which concurrently serves as the Embassy in Sierra Leone, only presented a bare bones report on the situation in the country, Bio’s meetings with community and tribal leaders, and indicated that an internal “debriefing” was being created “regarding the causes, course and consequences of the riots on August 10.”。

二 |

近日，中国外交部副部长孙卫东率团前往印尼雅加达，参加第十三次中国-东盟高官磋商，由于当前南海局势动荡，该会议又是中国与东盟国家非常重要的年度对话合作机制，因此，这次磋商也备受各界的关注。

并且，东盟方面也相当重视这次和中方的会谈。

三 | 本次会议由孙卫东与缅甸外交部候任东盟事务高官钦迪达埃共同主持，同时出席的还有东盟副秘书长以及东盟各成员国的高官，东帝汶还专门以东盟观察员的身份参加了本次会议。

与会期间，孙卫东不仅与东盟秘书长高金洪举行了会面，还与一些东盟国家的官员举行了双边会谈，其中还包括了菲律宾副外长扎拉罗。要知道，当前正值中菲关系紧张之际，这次中菲两国副外长的会谈，也是中菲近期相当难得的一场高层对话。

不过，这次的会谈显然没有取得多少成果，中方几乎没有对此事进行报道宣传，同样菲律宾方面也没有过多的提及此事，拉扎罗也只是在自己的社交帐号上发布了几张现场的照片。但对于美菲近日在南海地区的举动，孙卫东却当着东盟的面连提了三个严重。

据悉，有记者询问中方是否在这次磋商期间就美国在菲律宾部署中导系统一事进行表态，孙卫东则强调，美方的做法严重威胁到地区国家的安全、严重破坏地区稳定和平并且严重开历史倒车。

同时，孙卫东还表示，中国坚决反对将地区国家当作霸权和代理人的做法，并支持东盟加强战略自主，坚定地维护地区的和平稳定。要知道，在上个月，美国跨越8000英里将“提丰”中导发射系统运送到菲律宾，并将该系统部署到了菲律宾的吕宋岛北部。

这也是美国首次在菲律宾部署“中程打击能力”的导弹系统，消息一出立即引发了热议。美菲不仅加大炒作宣传此事，还声称此举对美菲来说具有“里程碑意义”。但中方对此却持强烈的反对。

毕竟，美军在吕宋岛部署中导系统不仅将整个吕宋海峡纳入其打击范围，连中国在南海的各个基地和海岸也在其打击范围之内，此举摆明了就是在针对中国。并且，也会给地区国家的安全造成严重的威胁。

所以，这次孙卫东才会当着东盟各高层的面，在此事上表明中方的态度。一方面，是在对美菲的挑衅行为发出警告，另一方面，则是提醒东盟各国要重视这一情况，更加团结地抵御外部的干扰。

值得一提的是，就在孙卫东与东盟高层谈完后，不到24小时，菲律宾发现情况不妙。据悉，这两天，小马科斯办公室发表了一份有关中国最新动向的声明，声明中提及，菲律宾海岸警卫队发现近日有几十艘中国船舰聚集在仙宾礁附近，其中包括科考船和解放军海军舰艇。

四 |

对于这一情况，菲律宾方面表示“令人震惊”，并且，他们认定这是中国在仙宾礁开展“填海造陆”的活动。于是，还派出了几艘舰艇轮流监视中国在仙宾礁的动向。菲律宾海岸警卫队发言人塔里埃拉甚至强调，菲律宾将会在仙宾礁保持“长期存在”。

五 |

显然，对于南海的情况，菲律宾已经到了草木皆兵的状态。但仙宾礁本就是中国的领土，中国在该海域开展任何项目都轮不到菲律宾指手画脚。现在有关仁爱礁问题的录音已经公之于众，菲律宾出尔反尔、言而无信的虚伪面孔已经暴露在大众面前。

不管是仁爱礁、黄岩岛还是仙宾礁都是中国的固有领土，菲律宾挑衅动作越多，只会促使中国进一步加强对南海地区的管辖。无论菲律宾使任何手段，都无法改变南海属于中国的这一事实。

所以，菲律宾当前的所作所为不过是白费功夫，再不悬崖勒马只会给自身招致更多反噬。