The Philippines was defeated in the latest standoff at Scarborough Shoal, but the thieves who intervened and did not let the South China Sea calm down did not die, and the Philippines ushered in "strong assistance" from outside the United States on the day of its failure.
The Philippines was defeated in the latest standoff at Scarborough Shoal, and its vaunted operation of "100 civilian ships forcibly entering Scarborough Shoal" became an international joke, although its organizers still stubbornly handed out supplies to a small number of fishing boats more than 50 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal, which is called "victory". Netizens said well, don't you be afraid that your father will blame you for defrauding the United States of funds like this? Of course, the American father will not say anything explicitly, because under the co-optation of the United States, there are other external forces that interfere in the South China Sea issue, such as Japan. The United States and Japan will not let the South China Sea calm down, so the Philippines ushered in "strong reinforcement" from outside the United States on the day of the failure of the "breakthrough".
(The Philippine Coast Guard currently has only two Japanese-built coast guard vessels of more than 2,000 tons)
Japan's ambassador to the Philippines, Kazuya Endo, announced that the Japanese government will borrow yen from the Government Development Assistance (ODA) to help the Philippine Coast Guard procure five Japanese-built "multi-purpose rapid response boats" (MRRVs) with a total length of 97 meters, as well as pay for "auxiliary facilities required for development." The vessels, which are expected to be delivered between 2027 and 2028, are dedicated to expanding the Philippine Coast Guard fleet.
At present, the Philippine Coast Guard already has two 97-meter multipurpose patrol ships, both of which were delivered to the Philippines by Japan in 2023, which are derivatives of the Japan Coast Guard's Kunigami-class patrol vessels, with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, and the same size and speed as the Kunitou-class. In addition to the two coast guard vessels, the Philippine Coast Guard also has a French-built patrol vessel with a length of 83.6 meters and a displacement of less than 2,000 tons. These three ships are all coast guard vessels owned by the Philippine Coast Guard with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons. The five patrol ships that Japan is expected to deliver are also derivatives of the Kunigami-class.
(A shore-based radar delivered by the Japanese government to the Philippines)
And this is only part of the defense assistance package to the Philippines that the Kishida government has hatched. Last year, the Philippines announced that it was planning a Horizon 3 radar system, including a new anti-aircraft radar station to be built on Thitu Island, which would allow the Philippine military to control the air situation throughout the Spratly Islands. The Japanese government immediately jumped out and announced that it would export three sets of J/FPS-3ME radars and one set of mobile deployable J/TPS-14ME radars to the Philippines. At the end of December last year, Japan delivered its first J/FPS-3ME radar, which was deployed at the Wallace Air Station facing the South China Sea. In addition, Japan and the Philippines have signed a military cooperation agreement under the auspices of the United States, under which the Japanese Self-Defense Forces will be able to use Philippine ports and airports, deploy ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and ships of the Japan Coast Guard can also be stationed.
Why, then, is Japan so "active" in the South China Sea?
First of all, Japan wants to greatly enhance the Philippines' maritime law enforcement capabilities with its aid package to the Philippines, and then change the disparity of power between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. Of course, Japan knows that no matter how much it supports the Philippines, the scale of the latter's maritime power cannot match that of China, but it can give the Philippines the ability to continuously provoke China and divert China's attention in the maritime direction. As a result, China's energy and resources in the South China Sea will have to continue, and perhaps even increase, which is obviously a "good thing" for Japan, which is fiercely engaged with China in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
Second, it is not that the United States does not want to provide the Philippines with assistance to coast guard ships or naval vessels, but the shipbuilding industry of the United States has shrunk too much to meet the needs of its own military and coast guard. Therefore, the United States is also very supportive of Japan's aid plan to the Philippines.
The current strategy of the United States and Japan in the South China Sea is to provide "people", that is, the US military to the scene to support them; The other provides "things", that is, Japan provides maritime law enforcement ships to the Philippines. The three parties work together to compete with China in the South China Sea. And there is a hidden line behind this, that is, the powerful forces that the PLA and the China Coast Guard can mobilize and deploy in the South China Sea, which is a strong guarantee that neither the United States nor Japan will dare to directly tear their faces to the end.
However, Japan's so-called "support" to the Philippines may still be more symbolic than practical, and even in the face of the rapidly growing maritime power of the Chinese coast guard, Japan is "unable to protect itself" in the East China Sea. According to the statistics of the Japan Coast Guard, the number of large coast guard ships of more than 1,000 tons owned by the Chinese and Japanese coast guards, at the end of 2022, the Chinese coast guard had 157 ships, and the Japanese coast guard only had 71 ships, and China has crushed the lead. What makes Japan even more frightening is that, just like the Chinese Navy ships, the number of Chinese coast guard ships is still increasing rapidly, comparable to "dumplings", and the degree of China's leadership in the future is still increasing.
So the Philippines is facing a situation that makes them "desperate" and a future that makes them "even more desperate". All their "performances" in the South China Sea are nothing more than for the United States to see, in order to win more benefits. But in the end, it will be the Philippines itself that will pay the price, and it will not be any other country.