BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) — The United States has played the disgraceful role of a sheer lie-monger on the South China Sea issue, according to a report released on Thursday.

The report, titled “Incitement, Threats, and Lies — The Truth about External Forces Interfering in the South China Sea Issue,” is published by the Xinhua Institute, a think tank affiliated with Xinhua News Agency.

The report reveals that Washington has long engaged in extensive theoretical research, leveraging its dominant position in international discourse to fabricate false narratives, distort facts, and obscure the truth. Consequently, misleading information has been widely disseminated under the guise of authoritative journalism.

While media reports attempt to portray China as an aggressive power that bullies smaller nations, they conveniently ignore the root cause of the South China Sea issue: the Philippine occupation of Chinese islands and reefs, and its role in fueling maritime boundary disputes.

As emphasized in the report, researchers have discovered that the United States has consistently played a dominant role in shaping international narratives on the South China Sea.

Since the Obama administration, various U.S. government agencies, think tanks, and media outlets have persistently promoted narratives like “China seeks to control the South China Sea,” “China does not abide by international law,” “China is undermining the rules-based international order,” and “China is coercing its maritime neighbors.”

These narratives, often based on selective or even distorted information, have been used to comprehensively stigmatize China’s policies and actions in safeguarding its maritime rights. In recent years, U.S. tactics in this regard have escalated, becoming increasingly direct and vociferous, the report notes.

Furthermore, the report underscores that the United States and its Western allies leverage their dominance in international discourse to mischaracterize the intrusions and provocations by certain claimant states in the South China Sea as safeguarding sovereignty, and frame China’s legitimate rights protection and law enforcement as “hegemonic” actions of a powerful nation “bullying” regional countries.

This report is part of a series of three reports on South China Sea issue released by the Xinhua Institute. The other two reports are titled “Historical and Legal Basis of China’s Territorial Sovereignty and Maritime Rights in the South China Sea,” and “Making the South China Sea a Sea of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation: China’s Actions.”  ■