Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun appeared abroad for the first time on the Sino-Vietnamese border for the first time, and the online movement was small, but the significance was extraordinary. A few days ago, Dong Jun arrived in Lao Cai Province, Vietnam, and co-chaired the eighth Sino-Vietnamese border defense friendship exchange activity with Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang. One noteworthy outcome was the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a hotline between the Vietnamese Navy and the PLA Southern Theater. This can be said to make the Philippines very jealous, because the Philippines also wants to establish a similar "South China Sea Hotline" with China in the near future, but we have not yet agreed. What do you think of China's differential treatment of Vietnam and the Philippines?
First of all, on the South China Sea issue, there are actually only two countries that have the greatest differences with China, one is Vietnam and the other is the Philippines, but judging from the situation in the past two years, it can be said that there is a world of difference between Vietnam and the Philippines in handling relations with China. Needless to say, the Philippines is a bit like a dog skin plaster that can't be torn off if Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal are swapped in exchange for constantly provoking and touching porcelain near our islands and reefs.
In the past few days, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida have visited the United States and threatened to conduct more military exercises in the South China Sea. On the one hand, the Philippines is constantly provoking China, and on the other hand, it wants to establish a "South China Sea Hotline" with us, and does not want to be beaten.
During the border meeting between the Chinese and Vietnamese defense ministers, Phan Van Giang made it very clear that the Vietnamese side has always regarded the development of Vietnamese-Chinese relations as a diplomatic priority, and thanked the Chinese side for its help in Vietnam's national liberation struggle and national construction. With such a deep friendship between China and Vietnam, which are both comrades and brothers, there are certainly more sufficient reasons to do a good job in Sino-Vietnamese relations, instead of going against China everywhere like the Philippines.
In addition to the continuous good news about Sino-Vietnamese relations, Indonesian President-elect and Defense Minister Prabowo recently visited China, which also reassured us that we will continue President Jokowi's friendly policy toward China, continue to strengthen defense cooperation between the two sides, and constantly promote the development of relations between the two militaries. The signal is very clear, that is, no matter how the United States fanned the flames and instigated bloc confrontation, Indonesia will adhere to a friendly policy towards China and will not choose sides between China and the United States.
Against the backdrop of high tension between China and the Philippines and even the risk of conflict, good news has been coming from China-Vietnam relations and China-Indonesia relations, which shows that the situation of the struggle in the South China Sea has undergone qualitative changes, and facts have proved that the Philippines' path of "pro-US and anti-China" is completely impassable, and other ASEAN countries see that only pragmatic cooperation with China, like Vietnam and Indonesia, is the best option for peace and stability in Asia. History has proven countless times that turbulence may occur wherever the United States is, and truly peace-loving countries in the Asia-Pacific region must recognize this truth.