The Philippine military has all "strong reinforcements" in place, the 16 countries will enter the South China Sea, and the United States and the Philippines will "shoulder to shoulder" in the practice of "seizing islands." Who are these 16 countries? Recently, the provocative moves of the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea have become more and more rampant, and the PLA has no way to retreat.
The 2024 U.S.-Philippines Balikatan exercise, which will take place from April 22 to May 10, will involve 16,700 troops and will conduct drills in maritime security, air and missile defense, dynamic missile strikes, cyber defense, information operations, and simulated the recapture of enemy-occupied islands. Compared with previous years, this year's US-Philippine "Shoulder to Shoulder" exercise will be conducted outside the Philippine 12-nautical-mile territorial waters for the first time, and the scale will be very different, with a total of 16 countries, including the United States and the Philippines, participating, that is, the military forces of 16 countries will enter the South China Sea at the beginning of the exercise, and about 14 of them will join as observers, including Japan, India, ASEAN countries and EU countries. To be sure, this year's "shoulder-to-shoulder" exercise between the United States and the Philippines can be seen as the latest move by the United States and the Philippines to disrupt the South China Sea, and it is also the most obvious example of the Marcos administration's "luring the wolf into the house" and attracting external forces to intervene in South China Sea affairs.
The Marcos government's daring to make such a brazen plan to "seize the island" is obviously to see that all the so-called "strong reinforcements" of the Philippine military are in place, and this is only one of the recent provocations by the Philippine side with the help of external forces in the South China Sea. Beyond that, if you do the math, the Marcos administration's provocative moves go far beyond that. Recently, at a press conference, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos himself bluntly admitted that the purpose of the Philippines in wooing the United States is to deal with China in the South China Sea. He claimed that the Philippine government allowed the US military to build four new military bases in the Philippines, and that the US military entered the Philippines in order to deal with China's activities in the South China Sea. Not only that, Marcos also cooperated with the United States in hyping up the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty" in order to issue a naked "war threat" to the mainland, clamoring that if any Filipino soldiers were killed in an "attack by foreign forces," that would be when the "US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty" would be invoked.
In February last year, under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) signed between the United States and the Philippines in 2014, the Philippine Department of Defense agreed to open access to four more military bases to the US military. Four new U.S. military bases have been added, three in northern Luzon and one on Balabac Island in Palawan Province. Among them, regarding this Luzon Island, another recent trend of the US military has aroused more public attention, that is, the US Army's 1st Multi-Domain Task Force has deployed the "medium-range strike capability" missile system in northern Luzon of the Philippines for the first time in history, and it is understood that the "medium-range capability" launch system, also known as the "Typhon" weapon system, is mainly used to launch the "Tomahawk" cruise missile, as well as the RIM-174 "standard" SM-6 ballistic missile that can be used against surface targets. The medium-range missile system is deployed in northern Luzon and has a coverage area that "reaches the coast of China and bases in the South China Sea," in other words, the U.S. military in the Philippines has reached the coast of China and the South China Sea.
The PLA has no way out of such wanton provocations by the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea, and it is impossible for the PLA to retreat. Earlier, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of the Mainland, also clearly pointed out that China resolutely opposes the US deployment of intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region, and if the US side insists on deploying it, it will be a provocation at China's "doorstep." China will never sit idly by and take all necessary measures to resolutely counteract. In addition, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian also clearly reminded the Philippine side at a regular press conference on the 17th that "we should be soberly aware that attracting foreign countries to show off force and provoke confrontation in the South China Sea will only exacerbate tensions and undermine regional stability, and trying to bring in external forces to safeguard the so-called self-security will only lead to greater insecurity and even become a pawn of others." It is undeniable that the relevant departments of the Chinese side have said similar things many times, but judging from the current situation, it is obvious that the Marcos government has not listened to it.