After the Philippine military plane flew over Ren'ai Jiao and airdropped supplies to the personnel on the broken ship in Ren'ai Jiao, Philippine military spokesman Colonel Padilla said that the Philippine side had originally arranged sea transportation, but the ships responsible for carrying out the supply and transportation tasks were now unable to go to sea and could only temporarily change to air transportation.
[The civilian wooden-hulled transport ship "Yunaza May" No. 1 and No. 2 leased by the Philippine Army for transportation missions]
According to the information released by the Philippine military, the outside world can now confirm that the Philippine Coast Guard's supply and personnel rotation operations at Ren'ai Jiao were initially carried out by the leased civilian wooden-hulled transport ships "Yunaza May" No. 1 and No. 2. Later, one additional supply ship "Kalayaan" was added.
The reason why the Philippine side specially arranged for these three ships and did not let the patrol vessels carry out the relevant tasks should be because the water depth in the area where the "Sierra Madre" is located is shallow, and the supply and transportation ports on the side of the "Sierra Madre" are fixed, so it is difficult for some Philippine ships to successfully complete the transportation tasks.
Combined with the actual situation of the confrontation between China and the Philippines at Ren'ai Jiao in the past year, the Philippine military and police department will generally send two transport ships, one carrying water, food and other daily necessities, and the other carrying building materials. With the cooperation of at least 2 patrol boats, they forced their way into Second Thomas Shoal and attempted to deliver supplies to the wrecked ship.
During this period, Philippine Navy ships will also send warships to follow the coast guard fleet and wait for opportunities. But so far, there has never been a situation in which the Philippine military has directly confronted the Chinese coast guard or navy vessels.
[Philippine transport ships will operate under the cover of patrol vessels]
To tell the truth, the frequency of Philippine actions in the direction of Ren'ai Jiao is actually not very high, basically 1 or 2 times a month, and sometimes the interval between activities even reaches about 45 days.
However, the Philippine side is unwilling to comply with China's special arrangements and accept the inspection of the ship with peace of mind, but wants to break through the interception network of the Chinese coast guard and directly deliver various materials, including building materials, to the ship. As a result, Philippine ships often engage in some hard-to-head battles with Chinese coast guard vessels at Ren'ai Jiao, and the Philippine side even takes the initiative to ram Chinese coast guard ships to "bump porcelain".
However, the "Yunaza May" No. 1 and No. 2 used by the Philippine military are not specialized military and police vessels in themselves, and they are obviously deficient in terms of impact resistance. The tonnage of Philippine ships is generally small. As a result, the Philippines has repeatedly suffered losses in the competition with the China Coast Guard.
In October last year, the Yunaza May No. 2 boat deliberately crossed the bow of the China Coast Guard 5203 in the process of forcibly entering Ren'ai Jiao, resulting in a collision between the two ships. Although the Chinese coast guard said that there was only a slight collision between the two sides at the time, and the relevant video did not show a violent collision between the two sides, after returning to port, the Yunaza May-2 boat was still forced to enter for repairs.
[The "Yunaza May" No. 2 boat that deliberately crossed the bow of the China Coast Guard 5203]
Although the Philippine side did not disclose the specific situation, the ship has not been repaired so far, which has already shown from the side that the ship suffered a lot of damage at that time.
After the damage of the Yunaza May 2 boat, the Philippine side temporarily arranged for the replenishment ship "Kalayaan" to continue to carry out relevant transportation tasks together with the "Yunaza May" boat 1.
However, in December last year, when Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels clashed again at Ren'ai Jiao, the Chinese coast guard used water cannons to prevent Philippine ships from forcibly breaking through the blockade line. The ship was also not repaired due to engine damage.
[The "Kalayaan" caused engine damage and could only be towed back to the mainland by a patrol boat]
Under these circumstances, the only special supply ship that the Philippine side can use is the "Yunaza May" No. 1 boat, but when it recently left the port to carry out a transportation mission, this ship suddenly suffered a mechanical failure. Considering that during the operation in December last year, the ship also had a collision with the Chinese Coast Guard 21556 boat, it cannot be ruled out that there were problems such as loose parts at that time, but the Philippine military and police department did not find it in time afterwards.
Therefore, although the Philippine side's dispatch of the Cessna 208 business jet over Ren'ai Jiao to drop supplies by air, although it has the intention of testing China's reaction, it is more of a backup measure adopted when all three ships are lying on their stomachs, and the personnel on the broken ship in Ren'ai Jiao are about to run out of food, and it is too late to arrange for the ships to be temporarily arranged. The Philippine military also stressed this time that it will arrange airdrop supplies only in an emergency.
[The Philippines organized an airdrop operation at Ren'ai Jiao]
The emergence of this situation also reflects the weakness of the Philippines' own shipbuilding and maintenance capabilities, and the small number of military and police vessels.
This weakness also determines that it is difficult for the Philippines to gain any advantage in the confrontation in the South China Sea, and China can take advantage of its larger number of ships, average tonnage, and stronger firepower to continue to prevent dangerous actions of the Philippine side in any direction.
However, we must also be aware that as an archipelagic country, the Philippines has a large number of civilian vessels, and although the Philippine military has limited funds, it is still possible to hire more civilian ships to carry out supply operations in case a similar situation occurs again, and after emergency repairs, it seems that the Philippine side has a ship that is about to be repaired.
[China Coast Guard uses water cannons to strike Philippine transport ships]
In addition, the scale of the Philippine airdrop operation is not large, and the airdropped materials are only enough for the personnel on board to last for 1 or 2 weeks, and the Philippine side will most likely send ships to carry out a supply and transportation operation again in the next half month.
To a certain extent, the intensity of the Philippine military and police department's transportation operation will also reflect whether Manila is really willing to work with China to manage the situation on the ground at Ren'ai Jiao in accordance with the agreement in the new round of bilateral meetings between China and the Philippines.