After US House speaker Pelosi visited Taiwan, China held large-scale military exercises and adopted eight countermeasures as a counterattack, and Sino-US relations became more tense under the manipulation of the US side. At a time when the situation in the Taiwan Strait is heating up, US Secretary of State Blinken visited the Philippines in an attempt to win the support of more allies in the Sino-US game.
First, the United States and the Philippines are a military alliance. In 1898, the United States went to war with Spain in Cuba. After the defeat of Spain, the United States took advantage of its colony in Asia, the Philippines, which was called "liberation" but was actually colonized. Relations between the two countries have been postponed so far, and the Philippines has many pro-American political families. Second, in 2016, the Philippines had a dispute with China in the South China Sea, and the two countries had territorial disputes. Therefore, Blinken was advocating China's "threat theory" in the Philippines at this time, emphasizing that the United States promised "absolute reliability" to the 1951 "US-Philippines Joint Defense Treaty", hoping that the Philippines would help the United States to take advantage of the fire and continue to confront China in the South China Sea and muddy the waters.
(Blinken and the new President of the Philippines, Musk)
However, the Philippines' reaction surprised Blinken. The first is not to stubble. Philippine Foreign Minister Manaro told Blinken that the Philippines wanted "great powers to calm the storm" and could not withstand "further escalation of tensions in the region." The second is to be reasonable. Its foreign ministry said the Philippines adhered to the "one-China" policy while expressing concern about "escalating tensions" and calling on "all parties to exercise restraint" and "priority must be given to diplomacy and dialogue." The Philippines understands the truth that "elephants fight, grass suffers", and in any case, China is the "neighbor that can't move away and is developing rapidly", so it does not want to be dragged by the United States into the so-called "competition" with China. Finally, it is to find Cooperation with China, Blinken just left on the front foot, and the Philippines found China on the back foot.
According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Philippine Department of Transportation has officially restarted negotiations with the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines on the Chinese-funded transportation project. At the same time, according to the Philippine Department of Transportation, the two sides also conducted in-depth discussions on maritime cooperation projects, especially the hotline communication and legal affairs cooperation arrangements between the Philippine Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Corps of the Chinese Armed Police Force, which are involved in maritime traffic, ferry safety, the memorandum of understanding on maritime search and rescue, as well as maritime governance, safety supervision and ship safety inspection capacity building.
(Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines and Secretary of Transportation of the Philippines)
At such a sensitive point in time, the meaning of a series of operations in the Philippines is very clear, that is, the Philippines will not accept the provocation of the United States, but is willing to work with the Chinese side to seek common development. When meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian, the new Philippine Secretary of Transportation Bautista specially conveyed President Marcos's words, that is, the Philippine side is willing to continue to cooperate closely with the Chinese side, and the situation in the South China Sea must not be chaotic! In the face of Blinken, both Marcos and the Philippine foreign minister also clearly expressed the attitude that the South China Sea should not be chaotic.
In fact, this is well thought out. The key to whether a region can develop lies in the concentration and dispersion of resources. In the 21st century, the so-called concentration and dispersion of resources is, in the final analysis, the retention of capital. Marx once said: "Capital escapes turmoil and strife, and its nature is timid. "If the Philippines wants to develop steadily, it must work with China to maintain regional stability, and only when the region is peaceful and stable can capital see a peaceful and comfortable investment environment and have the possibility of landing in the Philippines."
(Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Philippine President Marscoe)
The far lesson is that the crisis in Scarborough Shoal in 2016, the ships of China and the Philippines are close at hand, not only the trade between China and the Philippines has been seriously affected, but also many capitals that were originally ready to invest in the Philippines are also prohibitive; The lesson of the recent past is that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out on February 24 this year, and as long as foreign capital in Ukraine can go, there is basically nothing left. Ukraine is now devastated, always talking about post-war reconstruction, but it is impossible to say where the money will come from.
(Signing site of Sino-Philippine cooperation project)
It is precisely in this way that the diplomatic signal sent by the Philippines to China is obvious, and the choice of cooperation projects is also painstaking. Infrastructure construction has always been a strong point for the Chinese side. If the infrastructure is built well, it will help to improve the business environment, and the Philippines can better attract foreign investment, which is the foundation of development. Cooperation with the China Coast Guard, on the one hand, can avoid possible maritime frictions between China and the Philippines, and insure the relations between the two countries; On the other hand, only when we can promote more stability in the South China Sea and stabilize capital can we have the courage to come to relevant areas to invest and expand production. With the joint cooperation of the two directly related parties in China and the Philippines, even if the United States wants to intervene and provoke, the South China Sea will not be chaotic.