Since the beginning of 2023, our attitude towards the Philippines has been very positive and sincere. At the beginning of the year, Philippine President Marcos Jr. flew to Beijing with a large-scale delegation to China, and China also treated him with courtesy and signed many agreements with the Philippines, including an investment plan of hundreds of billions of yuan. Marcos Jr.'s trip to China can be described as a lot of money.
After returning to China, Marcos Jr. did have a little intention of returning the favor, and dismissed the chief of the general staff of the country's armed forces, Bacalozhong (a pro-American representative) in advance.
Marcos Jr. meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Austin
First, China-Philippines relations have undergone tremendous changes!
Seeing that Sino-Philippine relations are soaring, but soon the situation changes, due to the obstruction of powerful pro-American forces in the Philippines, coupled with Marcos Jr.'s unclear understanding of Sino-Philippine relations, full of too many illusions on the South China Sea issue, coupled with the coercion and inducement of the Americans, so now Marcos Jr. has chosen to get on the Americans' thief ship, and was even tied to the chariot by the Americans.
Recently, the Philippines has continuously provoked our side on the South China Sea issue. Some time ago, the naval vessels of China and the Philippines formed a confrontation near Thitu Island and Sembin Island in the South China Sea, and our naval vessels directly rushed into Thitu Island within 12 nautical miles and blockaded the Philippine troops on Thitu Island to a certain extent, together with our civilian ships and maritime surveillance ships. So far, the confrontation between the two sides has not been fundamentally resolved.
Since then, the Philippines has become more pro-American, announcing 4 new military bases in the Philippines to the United States, which makes the United States happy! Because almost three of these four military bases are aimed at China's South China Sea and Taiwan, this poses a certain threat to our strategy in the South China Sea and the future recovery of Taiwan Island.
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Not only that, the Philippines has also introduced the forces of Japan and India, and some time ago Max Jr. visited Japan personally and strengthened military cooperation with Japan. A few days ago, Japan also introduced a system of vigorously supporting friendly forces, that is, giving money, weapons, and helping so-called friendly forces build military airports and terminals.
Japan's first "friendly" targets included four countries: the Philippines, Malaysia, Fiji and Bangladesh. In particular, the Philippines is Japan's preferred target, and the purpose is to pull it to resist China, of course, it is not difficult to see the purpose of making it an "agent".
On the Indian side, the third brother is also wooing the Philippines to resist China. Last year, India sold its advanced BrahMos shore missiles to the Philippines for $374 million, and will continue to sell advanced weapons to the Philippines.
Indian BrahMos missile
Since the confrontation between China and India on the border has not been lifted, and India has always wanted to trip up China in the South China Sea through the Philippines and some Southeast Asian countries, India believes that strengthening relations with Southeast Asian countries, especially arms trade, can contain China and give itself more confidence in border confrontation!
It's not over yet! The intensity of military cooperation between the United States and the Philippines has also increased significantly.
Recently, news broke that the United States is training Philippine soldiers to use Haimas rocket launchers. Hymas rocket artillery has played a huge role in the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, bringing great damage to the Russian army. The United States is considering placing the Haimas rocket launcher relatively close to the South China Sea, and the purpose behind this is self-evident.
The U.S. military is training Filipino soldiers to use Haimas
Second, Philippine fruits enter China
Just when the relationship between China and the Philippines is becoming more and more tense and the Philippines' resistance to China is getting stronger and stronger, a noteworthy news was revealed yesterday, that is, the first batch of durians from the Philippines arrived in the Chinese market.
According to the China News Agency, Guangxi Civil Aviation Industry Development Co., Ltd. suddenly announced on April 8 that the first batch of 18 tons of Philippine durian had entered Nanning, Guangxi by plane. This is the first time that the Philippine durian has entered the Chinese market, and the next is to enter the Chinese market in a big way, and our General Administration of Customs has released as early as January 7 this year, as long as it meets the relevant requirements, the Philippines' durian and other fruits can be approved to enter the Chinese market.
At present, in the field of agricultural products, China is the third largest export market for Philippine agricultural products, bringing the Philippines a large amount of foreign exchange income every year. In addition to durian, China has long been the largest export market for bananas and pineapples in the Philippines.
Screenshot of foreign media reports
3. What should we be like?
Seeing this, we Chinese consumers will have some ideas, because we have given the Philippines enough sincerity and goodwill, but the Philippines is constantly jumping up and down on the South China Sea issue, and this lack of goodwill makes us unable to "treat each other friendly".
At present, some domestic netizens have responded strongly, that is, they refuse to buy! Because if you eat and smash the pot, then we will also show attitude and action.
At this time, some people questioned, why is the Philippines so rampant now, we still import Philippine fruits? Shouldn't it be a killer?
Durian is coming
I think the above considerations must be deeper and farther than we see! I think there are probably two reasons for this:
1. At present, some words and deeds of the Philippine side have not yet been substantially threatened, unlike the major events such as the Philippines' initiation of international arbitration in the South China Sea dispute in 2013 and the 2016 judgment of the Hague Court of International Arbitration that the Philippines "won", so we will certainly not play all our cards. Chinese is good at layout and planning, and never blindly makes all the killing moves, but sees the tricks and dismantles the moves, and will hit the king bomb at the key point.
2. Another point, I think we are using the trick of "leading the king into the urn" (this metaphor is a bit ugly). Our economic power has always been our greatest weapon in safeguarding national interests and advancing our grand strategy (such as the Belt and Road Initiative) in the international political arena.
Macron "changed"
This can be seen from the frequent visits or requests of Western countries in the recent period of time by those "straight-mouthed" Western countries. Because the economy is the foundation, with the economy, with cooperation, let you make money, then you cannot decouple from China, you cannot foolishly offend China.
Once these countries are deeply tied to our economy, so that you have me and I have you, then we have more cards to play.
For example, the Philippines now wants to make trouble, but once its economy is dependent on us enough, then by that time we will play again, and the lethality to it will be great enough! Just like the above-mentioned fruits are "dispensable" in terms of the Chinese market, but this can affect the livelihood and interests of a large number of fruit farmers, distributors and even many officials in the Philippines, after all, there is almost no one to replace a market as large as China.
Marcos Jr
In addition, the Philippines is also a country with a voting system, once the incumbent president's China policy hurts the Philippine economy and overall interests, then the next president will adjust his China policy, and former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is an example. In short, the state has national considerations, which does not affect the attitude of our consumers.