Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. publicly stated on April 8 that the Philippines is willing to engage in dialogue with China on the South China Sea issue. In response to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos' statement that he wants to ease tensions in the South China Sea and engage in dialogue with China, China has drawn a red line for the Philippines and put forward a three-point position on this. The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines released a statement on April 13 announcing China's three-point position: the first is to ask the Philippines to tow away the landing ship stranded on Ren'ai Jiao, the second is that if the Philippines wants to resupply, it must notify the Chinese side, and the third is that the Chinese side will not allow the Philippines to resupply illegal construction materials to Ren'ai Jiao.
Judging from the three-point position released by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, China's red line is very clear, thus responding to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos's willingness to dialogue. In fact, the dialogue announced by Marcos is not that the Philippines bows to China, but that it is trying to put pressure on China by using the deterrent effect of the joint military exercises of the United States, Japan, Australia and the Philippines. The joint military exercises of the United States, Japan and Australia were held on April 7, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has already threatened to use the joint military exercises to help solve the problems in the South China Sea.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos flew to Washington, the capital of the United States, to attend the trilateral summit of leaders of the United States, Japan and the Philippines. The trilateral summit between the United States, Japan, and the Philippines openly declared that it would not unilaterally change the status quo by force, including in the East and South China Seas, was clearly a threat to China. The United States, Japan, and the Philippines also agreed to uphold the so-called rules-based international order, thus exposing the essence of the U.S. strategy that Japan and the Philippines want to serve.
At a time when the United States, Japan and the Philippines were aggressive, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines had publicly responded to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, thus reflecting China's basic principles, and there was no room for negotiation on the sovereignty issue. It can be seen from China's statement that the Philippines' attempt to blackmail through the trilateral summit between the United States, Japan and the Philippines has not succeeded, so it is the Philippines itself, not China, that needs to change.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos is betting that China will make concessions, and for this reason he is willing to talk to China, and at the same time, he is also betting that the United States and Japan will give the Philippines more support, in fact, the United States and Japan give the Philippines only verbal support, and there is no actual action, so the trilateral summit between the United States, Japan and the Philippines is just a formality, and the Philippines will definitely fail to make a big bet on its own national fortunes.