Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos was interviewed by the US media, during which Marcos basically complained about the South China Sea issue and international relations, and compared China to a "bear". On the South China Sea issue, Marcos publicly said that the Philippines is not "poking the bear", claiming that what the Philippines is doing is the opposite, trying to control the "conflict" at a controllable level, and continue to seek dialogue at multiple levels, Marcos said that the Philippines will continue to promote the settlement of the South China Sea issue in accordance with the established strategy, and firmly denied launching a provocation against China, Marcos said that the Philippines will continue to defend its "territory".
Marcos also emphasized the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty" signed by the United States and the Philippines, but the attitude shown is very strange, because Marcos said that although the United States supports the Philippines, the Philippines does not seek help from the United States whenever there is something, Marcos said that if the United States is blindly looking for the United States, it will be very dangerous, Marcos explained that if the Philippines is facing an existential threat, it will seek the United States to activate the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty", and it is obviously not the time to use the agreement. Previously, when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the Philippines, he publicly threatened that if China attacked Philippine official ships, the United States might activate the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty", but Marcos directly denied the relevant claims.
It is not difficult to see from Marcos's remarks that the Philippines has not turned back after hitting the southern wall, but has insisted on constantly stirring up trouble on the South China Sea issue, and Marcos insists that the South China Sea is the "territory" of the Philippines and will insist on safeguarding the interests of the Philippines, obviously because of the support of the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to the Philippines on March 19 has given Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos great courage to publicly reverse black and white, claiming that he did not take the initiative to provoke China, and in fact, since February 2023, the Philippines has launched provocations at Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal as if it had eaten gunpowder, during which there was also the strong support of the U.S. military nearby, highlighting the collusion between the United States and the Philippines.
In addition to the combat patrols of aircraft carrier strike groups, there are also frequent intrusions of many types of reconnaissance planes, and the US military has also been linked up with Brunei, the Philippines, and Singapore, thus showing off its military might at China's doorstep. From the perspective of the US strategy, it is to make the South China Sea issue more tense so that the United States can benefit from it. At present, the United States is mainly instigating the Philippines to launch provocations, and for this reason, US Secretary of State Blinken has visited the Philippines four times, and at the same time, Philippine President Marcos's remarks have also highlighted the Philippine strategy and propositions, which should arouse vigilance.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian publicly stated at a press conference on March 20 that China's sovereignty and interests in the South China Sea pose no threat to any country, and Lin Jian also pointed out that the recent escalation of the situation in the South China Sea is due to the provocation initiated by the Philippines, thus responding to Marcos's denial of provocation, and Lin Jian also stressed that the Philippines is constantly creating incidents and spreading disinformation internationally.