Recently, the fire in the South China Sea has been burning more and more. The reason is that the Philippines continues to raise salaries, the United States continues to stoke the fire, and the domestic media is also constantly blowing the wind.
For his part, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. hopes that the friction with China in the South China Sea will be as big as possible, and that the more countries involved in it, the better, even at the cost of turning into conflict. That would keep him in the presidency and his approval ratings.
After Marcos Jr. came to power, he stubbornly believed that his ouster was not because of corruption, but because he did not have good relations with the United States.
During his 22 years in power in the Philippines, Marcos Sr. has been engaged in corruption and bribery, with 5,325 tons of gold deposited in Swiss banks and $1.8 billion in cash in Swiss banks, Hong Kong, Singapore and other places. When he fled Hawaii in panic after being ousted from power, he took with him 300 boxes of gold, diamonds, jewelry, securities, real estate and other property, and was later detained by U.S. Customs and registered them one by one, with a total of 2,300 pages.
Therefore, after Marcos Jr. came to power, he completely overturned Duterte's pro-China policy and fully embraced the United States. He first visited Beijing, patted his chest and talked about the friendship between the Philippines and China, and even brought up his mother's "traditional friendship" with China. After returning, he met with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and agreed to reopen four military bases to the United States, three of which are located on Luzon Island, the closest to Taiwan, and one on Palawan Island, which is closest to Nansha. After that, the United States and the Philippines held the largest "shoulder-to-shoulder" joint military exercise in history in 2023.
In early May, Marcos Jr. visited the White House, and the two sides issued a joint statement in which Biden said that any armed attack on the Philippines in the Pacific would automatically trigger the mutual defense commitments of the U.S.-Philippines Defense Treaty. Marcos Jr. said he looks forward to working with his "only treaty partner" to strengthen and redefine the relationship between the two countries.
On August 5 this year, the Philippines sent four ships to intrude into the waters of Ren'ai Jiao without authorization, despite warnings, in an attempt to deliver construction supplies to an illegal "beached" warship.
In this regard, the US side expressed its support for the Philippine side's "legitimate maritime activities" without asking any questions about it. With the support and demagogy of the United States, the Philippines and other countries outside the region have intensified their provocations against Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal.
On August 26, the United States, Japan, Australia and the Philippines held a joint training in the South China Sea. Japan sent its largest frigate, Izumo, to participate in the exercise. Earlier, Japan provided the Philippines with a coast guard ship with a displacement of more than 2,600 tons with a length of 97 meters, as well as satellite communication equipment and a coastal radar surveillance system.
On November 21, the United States and the Philippines organized a three-day joint air and sea patrol in the South China Sea. On the 25th, the Philippines and Australia held a joint patrol in the South China Sea. France also plans to organize patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea. In addition to sending warships to participate in joint Xi, India has also ordered BrahMos anti-ship missiles from the Philippines and provided equipment such as helicopters and shore-based anti-ship missiles.
On 4 December, the USS Giffords, a littoral combat ship, illegally intruded into the waters adjacent to Ren'ai Jiao, claiming that it would continue to operate in international waters, including the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, in accordance with international law. He also threatened that the US military would help the Philippines transport building materials, repair the beached warship "Sierra Madre," and provide security for Philippine maritime operations.
On December 10, Brauner Jr., chief of the general staff of the Philippine armed forces, disguised himself and mixed with the warship "Sierra Madre" to "check in and take pictures" under the cover of transporting supplies. At the same time, the Philippine side announced that Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian was "persona non grata".
At this point, domestic public opinion has erupted into a large-scale anti-Philippine voice, "shouting, fighting, shouting and killing" constantly, and some military Vs have also intervened.
Some advocate "fight with one punch, lest a hundred punches come", it is time to give the Philippines a little color.
Some believe that the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have tied the hands and feet of the United States, and now is the best time to resolve the issue of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
Some said, "Horses are good at being ridden, and people are good at being bullied by others", a big country is bullied by a small country like this, and it doesn't do anything, it's really a nest.
Some say that the Philippines is doing so because it sees that China does not dare to take action, which will encourage the arrogance of other South China Sea claimants.
Some netizens agreed that the sooner the South China Sea issue is resolved, the more proactive it will be. We had just been liberated during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and we dared to fight a decisive battle with the United States and the United Nations forces to the end.
These emotions are understandable.
To be honest, it is not at all a problem for China to attack the Philippines and take over the occupied islands and reefs in the South China Sea. So why didn't we do it?
Because this is a trap laid by the United States.
The United States is now in internal and external troubles. The internal worry is that the U.S. fiscal is about to "uncover the pot", the government is almost shut down, and the U.S. fiscal deficit in fiscal year 2023 is nearly 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars, which is borrowed by selling U.S. bonds, but because the Federal Reserve is crazy about raising interest rates and harvesting the world, "capital bloodthirsty" is too ugly, coupled with the infighting between the two parties, etc., the credibility of the United States is broken, the U.S. debt cannot be sold, and countries around the world have set off a wave of de-dollarization.
The external dilemma is that the United States is caught in the two conflicts of Ukraine and Israel, and its aid to Ukraine has developed "fatigue" and "disappointment", and it has defied the condemnation of the world and openly made enemies of more than 150 countries in the world. Zelensky recently went to the United States to beg, as long as he got $200 million in "dog food" a day. That's telling.
At this juncture, what the United States fears most is that China will take the opportunity to recover Taiwan and the United States will lose its greatest magic weapon to balance China. However, the Taiwan issue is China's internal affair, and the United States cannot mobilize its allies around the world to sanction China as it did in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
As a result, the United States shifted the battlefield, taking advantage of Marcos Jr.'s pro-American stance and the sovereignty dispute between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, to cultivate the Philippines into a second "maritime Ukraine".
In this way, the United States seized the opportunity to mobilize the West to impose sanctions on China. Among other things, China has nearly $9 trillion in overseas assets and more than 8,000 projects, including $3.1 trillion in foreign exchange reserves and nearly $800 billion in U.S. debt. If these assets are misappropriated by the United States, they can greatly alleviate inflation in the United States and stimulate the American economy. At the same time, it has seriously hindered and retarded China's development.
This is the conspiracy of the United States, and it also refers to the sinister intention of Japan, Australia, France, and other countries outside the region to intervene in the South China Sea.
In this way, the trap set by the United States in the South China Sea has been exposed, should we still drill into it?
Objectively speaking, the dispute between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea has not yet reached the point of fighting each other. China has told the Philippines that the Chinese military will not budge an inch on the issue of territorial sovereignty.
The Philippines did not dare to fire the first shot at China because it could not take advantage. But if a step back in the South China Sea really fights, the United States will not dare to really end up, because it will not be able to take advantage. The United States will only let the Philippines rush to the front, and he will encourage the countries of the world to blockade China in the back to reap the benefits.
Therefore, for the sake of the throne, for the sake of votes, and for the sake of selfish interests, Marcos Jr. will continue to provoke and probe in the South China Sea, including forcibly pulling foreign forces to intervene at the behest of the United States.
In this regard, if we are prepared for the worst, we can fight to the end with the United States and the Philippines in a game of "cat and mouse"; they use fishing boats and we use fishing boats, they use the coast guard and we use the coast guard, they use the army and we also go to the army, and we "do not cause trouble, let alone be afraid of it", because whether it is the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, or the Sino-US competition, time is on our side.
Just like a marathon, when we are about to finish the race, the United States deliberately puts obstacles in front of us, and whether we go around and continue to sprint, or stop and clear the roadblocks, this is the time to test our wisdom.
You must know that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is our ultimate goal. In the sprint towards this goal, there will inevitably be some ups and downs, ditches and bumps, and we need to be distracted and not afraid of clouds and clouds, which is China's great wisdom. Of course, on the issue of safeguarding China's sovereignty, security and development interests, our determination and will are unwavering.
(The author is a special researcher at the Kunlun Ce Research Institute and former deputy director of the International Communication Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense; source: Kunlun Ce Network [authorized compilation and distribution], recompiled from the WeChat public account of "Yasheng 75 Words", revised and released; the picture comes from the Internet, invaded and deleted)