After the People's Liberation Army (PLA) dispatched, the Philippines was not to be outdone and invited the United States to hold a joint air patrol in the South China Sea, but the United States released a "pigeon". #军史观察团#
As 2024 approaches, the mainland army has launched a large-scale military Xi exercise. In addition, the PLA's Southern Theater has also organized naval and air forces to conduct patrols in the South China Sea. Obviously, China's move is sending a signal that it will strengthen its control over the South China Sea.
After all, last year, the Philippines continued to stir up trouble near Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal, causing tensions in the South China Sea to become more and more tense. At the end of last year, the foreign ministers of China and the Philippines also held a phone call on the South China Sea issue. In the phone call, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has already made it clear that if the Philippines continues to collude with external forces and cause trouble in the South China Sea, China will definitely take a resolute response.
As a result, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has been patrolling the South China Sea since the turn of the year to assert China's sovereignty over the South China Sea. Moreover, during the cruise, the Southern Theater also openly emphasized that all movements in the South China Sea are under the control of the PLA. Obviously, China's move is also intended to warn the Philippines to be cautious in its words and actions in the new year, and to make the right choices to cool down the situation in the South China Sea.
In addition, when China announced its visit to the South China Sea, the Philippine military also announced that it would hold joint patrols with the United States near the South China Sea. Although this is the second time in nearly three months that the United States and the Philippines have conducted a joint patrol in the South China Sea, this time the situation is different.
The Philippine military previously announced that the Philippines would send four warships during this joint patrol, while the US military would not only send a cruiser and two guided missile destroyers, but also dispatch the USS Carl Vinson nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. However, on the day of the official cruise, the scene reported by the Philippine media was somewhat different from the remarks made by the Philippine military.
On that day, the Philippines sent only three warships instead of four, and the US military only dispatched one destroyer, the USS Strett, and did not see a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. In addition, during the cruise, the US warship deliberately kept a certain distance from the Philippine warship, and even the subjects of the Xi exercise were deleted.
It can be seen that this time the Philippines was released as a "pigeon" by the United States. It is worth mentioning that during the US-Philippine air patrol, the PLA's "Hefei warship" and "Huangshan warship" also appeared in the vicinity of the US-Philippine warship. Therefore, this joint air patrol undoubtedly made the Philippines lose face.
Of course, the reason for this situation is that the United States did it on purpose. The Philippines thinks that by co-opting the United States, it will be able to act recklessly in the South China Sea, but in fact, the United States does not want to really tear its face with China over this matter. Therefore, it will not overstimulate China.
What's more, the United States originally only wanted to be a "trader" and did not want to take any risks. It can be seen that the previous promises made by the United States to the Philippines were simply "empty promises". Therefore, the Philippine fox is destined to lose face. Facts have also proved that the Philippines does not have the ability or courage to confront China in the South China Sea, after all, the United States is simply unreliable.
Therefore, Marcos Jr. immediately changed his style of play after realizing this. It is reported that in the past two days, Marcos Jr. has publicly stated that he can hold a meeting with Duterte at any time. Just a few days ago, Duterte also publicly shouted that he wanted to talk to Marcos Jr.
Recently, the Philippines is not peaceful, and there have been a lot of news about the "disagreement" between the two families of Marcos Jr. and Duterte, and even rumors that Duterte "instigated the Philippine military to launch a coup d'état" and that he has "searched" a candidate to replace Marcos Jr.
In this regard, Duterte has publicly stated in the past two days that these are false remarks, and he does not want to control Marcos Jr., but wants to have a good talk with Marcos Jr. In fact, whether these news are true or not, it shows that there are many contradictions within the Philippines at present.
What's more, last year, Duterte's daughter Sarah, who was also the vice president of the Philippines, was also subject to a financial review by the Marcos Jr. government. This incident once made the relationship between the two families even more strained. However, Duterte, as the former president of the Philippines, pursues a very different foreign policy from Marcos Jr., and Duterte has not alienated China in order to win over the United States, but is still promoting the development of relations between China and the Philippines.
Marcos Jr.'s foreign policy imbalance has also caused dissatisfaction with Duterte and others. However, Marcos Jr. was preoccupied with international affairs some time ago and did not deal too much with these things. After China's repeated warnings, Marcos Jr. also realized that it was no longer feasible to continue to fight China on the South China Sea issue.
Therefore, Marcos Jr. chose to stabilize the country first, on the one hand, in exchange for a little trust of the domestic people, and on the other hand, it can also avoid the further deterioration of relations with China. However, in order to resolve the South China Sea issue, it is necessary to return to dialogue and communication, and all the struggles of the Philippines at the moment are useless.