Since the beginning of this year, the Philippines has frequently provoked China on the South China Sea issue, and Scarborough Shoal and Ren'ai Jiao have become very uneasy due to the Philippines' troubles. Originally, during the Duterte administration, the dispute between the two sides has calmed down, and the Philippines has also achieved relatively good development, but the newly inaugurated Marcos did not cherish it well, and his China policy took a sharp turn for the worse, and he was in cahoots with the United States and danced on a tightrope.
Recently, however, Marcos's attitude has changed abruptly, leaving the United States and Japan aside, and he wants to act unilaterally. Earlier, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun quoted a well-known person in the Philippine government as saying that the Philippines has begun informal discussions with the United States on the structure of the "Sierra Madre" landing ship as part of drafting a specific repair plan. However, Marcos Jr. said in an interview with Japanese media NHK TV a few days ago that although the United States has been helping the Philippines with maritime patrols, as far as the specific situation of the "Sierra Madre" is concerned, the Filipinos hope to solve this problem themselves.
Marcos added that for the Philippine side, the situation of the Sierra Madre is entirely a problem for the Philippines itself. Therefore, the Philippines will take unilateral action and make every effort to maintain its presence at Ren'ai Jiao, but the incident at Ren'ai Jiao has reached this point, and the credibility of the Philippine side's commitment is very low, and it is really unconvincing that the Philippines has gone back on its word. The Philippines should listen to China's voice more, and China will not let the Philippines drag it out.
Just recently, the spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines Aguilar said that the Philippine government is considering building a permanent civilian structure on Second Thomas Shoal, such as a lighthouse or a marine scientific research base. The Philippine side also claimed that Ren'ai Jiao is an exclusive economic zone of the Philippines and that only the Philippines can build buildings there.
Regarding the Philippine side's serious violation of China's sovereignty, Wu Qian, spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, issued a sternly worded warning at a regular press conference: China is always committed to resolving differences through dialogue and consultation and jointly maintaining maritime stability, but it will not sit idly by and ignore the repeated provocations and troubles of the Philippine side. The Philippines regards China's warning as a deaf ear, harming only itself, and the Chinese people will absolutely not retreat half a step in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Philippines has always been in the South China Sea, trying every means to create trouble for China, and the "beached" warships at Ren'ai Jiao have been relying on them for decades and are refusing to leave, and the Philippines' intention is obvious, that is, it hopes to occupy it for a long time and turn it into the Philippines' own territory, but no matter how the Philippines tosses, it cannot change the fact that Ren'ai Jiao belongs to China's territory, and the Philippines is only taking advantage of the danger of others to have the current situation.
In the 90s of the last century, the Philippines fished in troubled waters and took advantage of the unstable situation in the South China Sea to stretch out its claws to China's islands and reefs. However, this stop lasted for more than 20 years, and despite the wind and rain, the old man of the "Sierra Madre" refused to leave, and the soldiers on board also used it as a base to take root in Chinese territory and create trouble everywhere.
Today, the wrecked ship is rusty and in danger of disintegrating at any time, but the Philippines, which is determined to confront China, still has no idea of pulling it away, and has been trying to transport illegal supplies and strengthen the warship, and continues to rely on it. This year, there have been many cases of Philippine ships trying to transport reinforcement materials, but they were all intercepted by the Chinese coast guard, and the Philippine side's provocations have left both sides on the brink of danger many times.
The China Coast Guard is legal and reasonable, and the measures taken are in line with the norms, and the operation is professional, restrained, and completely legal, but when it comes to the mouth of the Philippines, it completely changes, reversing right and wrong, misleading international public opinion, and making the already unstable situation in the South China Sea even more complicated. But don't forget that the Philippine Department of Defense also claimed to send more supplies to the disputed islands and reefs, and it was because of these moves by the Philippine side that external forces also had the opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to disrupt the South China Sea.
Even in Southeast Asia, the Philippines is not outstanding, let alone participating in the great power game and going head-to-head with China in the South China Sea. The Philippines should have an all-round understanding of the situation, and at the same time weigh its own strength, China is not what it used to be, not the Philippines can touch porcelain casually, even the United States and Japan do not dare to challenge China easily, let alone the Philippines that is vassalized with them, in the face of the Chinese coast guard, the Philippine maritime power is stretched, how dare you have the courage to call out? Among China's coast guard ships in service, the maximum displacement has reached 12,000 tons, 70 ships of 3,000 tons or more, and 150 ships of more than 1,000 tons.
In 2016, the Philippines had already experienced this experience, when the United States instigated the Philippines to engage in the so-called "South China Sea Arbitration", creating an incident and causing an uproar in the international community, in an attempt to take possession of islands and reefs in the South China Sea, damage China's core interests, and contain China's rise. However, in the face of unfair treatment by the West, China resolutely does not accept, approve or ignore it. However, at that time, the West also went all the way to the black, resolutely standing in the Philippines, the United States even sent the "Reagan" and "Steanis" two aircraft carrier battle groups to the South China Sea, in an attempt to force China to compromise by force, the United States stretched the posture to show muscles, but the Chinese people are not easy to provoke, in response, the Chinese Navy also gathered a large number of troops in the South China Sea, the three fleets of the elite exhausted, in a flash, the vast sea of the South China Sea gathered more than 100 main warships of the Chinese Navy.
Just when the outside world thought that the situation was about to break out, the US military quietly withdrew, abandoned the so-called allies, and withdrew from the South China Sea in a gloomy manner, and the United States once again showed the world the essence of the "paper tiger". Seeing the withdrawal of the US aircraft carrier battle group, the Philippines had mixed feelings in its heart, and it wanted to be a fox and a tiger, but it never wanted to be frightened away, and all its plans were in vain.
The Philippines is deeply aware of the United States' imminent escape, and now the United States wants to make a comeback and create trouble in the South China Sea. But the ending will still not change, once it changes, the United States is still the same "paper tiger", if the Philippines can't see clearly, then it will only be hurt again and pay a greater price.