On April 12, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) confirmed that 25 mainland militia vessels, including two mainland coast guard vessels 3106 and 3302, had been spotted in the waters off the Masingloc Reef in the West Philippines, the mainland's Scarborough Shoal. In the shallows, the Philippine side also found two Chinese militia boats, but there was no floating barrier on the sea, which means that they did not come to fish.
The presence of militia ships in the mainland's own waters is a normal thing, but the Philippines is very concerned because there are four times more this year than there were at this time last year, and they are accompanied by coast guard boats. This is not a good sign for the Philippines. The Philippines is concerned that China has deployed a large number of militia ships and coast guard vessels on Scarborough Shoal, mainly targeting the Philippines.
A large number of mainland ships appeared at Scarborough Shoal, perhaps for fishing
Scarborough Shoal is very important to the Philippines, even more so than Second Thomas Shoal. Because Ren'ai Jiao only has the wrecked ship, but Scarborough Shoal has "huge" resources around it. If it can occupy this place, the Philippines will be able to exploit the resources of the seabed at will.
Therefore, apart from Ren'ai Jiao, the Philippines has trespassed on Scarborough Shoal the most, and they are trying to repeat the old trick by driving boats to Scarborough Shoal and illegally "beaching" to occupy it, and then in the future, they will realize permanent illegal occupation by transporting construction materials. However, it is enough to play out history once, and the Chinese side has clearly ordered that the "Sierra Madre" must be towed away as soon as possible. Since the broken ships at Ren'ai Jiao are not going to be tolerated, how can the Chinese side give the Philippines the opportunity to illegally occupy Scarborough Shoal? If it is just ordinary fishing, the Chinese side can not be held accountable, for example, when a large number of mainland ships appeared on Scarborough Shoal, there were still 12 Philippine ships fishing in this area, and the Chinese side did not drive away them.
There are many kinds of marine fish in this area, including grouper, fathead fish, yellowfin tuna, dolphins, eels, sea carp and other fish resources, not only in large quantities, but also thick and delicious fish, which is one of the main sources of income for fishermen to support their families. Therefore, China will not interfere with the behavior of ordinary Filipino fishermen coming to fish.
In addition to the 12 Philippine fishing boats coming to fish, a large number of Chinese ships have appeared at Scarborough Shoal, and it is likely that they are also fishing. The appearance of the Chinese coast guard vessels may be to protect the fishing boats from the sudden appearance of Philippine vessels and affect the normal fishing operations of mainland fishing vessels. However, the official did not say, so it is not certain whether it is fishing or not.
April, May, October and November are the busiest months in the South China Sea, as most fishermen choose to fish during these two periods. Scarborough Shoal is rich in fishery resources, and it is naturally a frequent place for Chinese fishermen.
In addition, because of its unique topography, Scarborough Shoal can be used as a natural haven for fishermen when the weather is bad, avoiding the capsizing of fishing boats due to strong wind and waves.
Scarborough Shoal is very valuable, and it may be necessary to build a military base
Scarborough Shoal is valued not only for fisheries, but also for other important resources, especially minerals and oil and gas resources. The most abundant resources in this sea area are metal soft mud and manganese nodules, which contain a lot of metals, including more than 30 different metal substances, such as manganese, copper, cobalt, etc.
Now the amount of metal resources on land has become smaller and smaller after large-scale mining by humans. However, the country's development in the industrial field is inseparable from these metal resources, so Scarborough Shoal has become a very critical existence, which is why the Philippines and the United States covet it.
In addition to metal resources, this sea area also contains a large amount of natural gas and oil and gas resources, and if all of them can be extracted, it will be enough for China to use them for hundreds of years. Therefore, the guards of Scarborough Shoal are particularly important.
With China's improved sand blowing and reclamation technology, some have suggested that the reef could be completely reclaimed and become a major military base in the South China Sea. If this place is really filled, the South China Sea will present a "three-legged" air defense zone with Fiery Cross Island, Woody Island, and Scarborough Shoal.
However, it has been reported that as long as China dares to reclaim Scarborough Shoal, the United States will send fighter planes to bomb it, and it is bound to fail China's "conspiracy." However, for the time being, let's not say that the United States has been avoiding exchanging fire with China, let's just say that the United States does not intend to intervene in the current war between Israel and Iraq, and he has the courage to fight China?
In addition, the construction of Scarborough Shoal into a military base will put a stop to the Philippines' thoughts about Scarborough Shoal. Every time they illegally trespassed on Scarborough Shoal and were driven out by the Chinese Coast Guard, they would always cry all over the sky and shout that the Chinese Coast Guard was bullying them, making themselves pitiful victims, and trying to use public opinion to make the Chinese Coast Guard collect some strength and facilitate their intrusion.
The Philippines' small calculations are indeed loud, but the Chinese side does not intend to get used to them anymore. This can be seen from the three red lines that China directly set up with the Philippines some time ago. In the past, the Chinese side was particularly tolerant of the wrecked ship at Ren'ai Jiao, but now it has directly ordered the Philippines to tow the ship away in the shortest possible time.
If the Philippines insists on not towing it away, it is very likely that China will help them tow it away or simply let the broken ship sink into the sea. As long as there is no such broken ship, it will not be so easy for the Philippines to land on Second Thomas Shoal.