From April 22 to May 8, the United States and the Philippines will hold a joint military exercise near the South China Sea, with nearly 17,000 participants far exceeding last year's, and the venue will also go beyond the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea line of the Philippines and less than 200 kilometers from the Chinese island of Taiwan. In addition, the United States and the Philippines will also practice "island seizure operations" and "sinking exercises," in which the "island" most likely refers to Scarborough Shoal, and the target of the exercise's "sinking" is the retired Philippine supply ship "Lake Calaria." The warship was originally made in China and used by Philippine companies as oil tankers, and is the only "Chinese-made naval asset" in the Philippines. The US-Philippine coalition entering the South China Sea and conducting exercises to sink "Chinese-made warships" will inevitably lead to the escalation of the situation in the South China Sea, and how China will pick up the "ball" has become the focus of attention of all parties.
On April 18, Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Indonesia, and successively held talks with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, the Indonesian President and the President-elect, at the time of the replacement of the old and new Indonesian regimes, and combined with the current situation in the South China Sea, Foreign Minister Wang Yi's main mission to Jakarta has two points, one is to orient the bilateral relations between China and Indonesia, and promote further cooperation between the two countries in many fields. Consensus was reached on cooperation in areas such as energy and infrastructure.
The second is to make clear its position on the current situation in the South China Sea. Peace in the South China Sea is the common interest of all countries in the region, and the confrontational atmosphere created by the United States and the Philippines in the South China Sea is harmful to the economic development of regional countries and the presence of foreign investment. During the talks, Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that China is ready to work with ASEAN countries to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, accelerate consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and maintain regional stability.
Indonesia is the largest country in ASEAN and maintains friendly relations with China, and Prabowo's first visit to China after his election as president shows that developing relations with China is expected to become Indonesia's strategic priority. The United States is trying to divide China's relations with ASEAN under the pretext of the Philippines, and China has seized the key point to unite ASEAN countries to maintain peace. In terms of effect, the Philippines' approach has already sparked dissatisfaction among countries in the region, and with Indonesia as a "helping hand", the China-led negotiations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea are expected to advance rapidly, and the dispute between China and the United States is already emerging.
In addition to the diplomatic offensive, not long ago, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) organized a drill in the South China Sea to crack down on "enemy war-damaged fishing boats" and a joint naval and air combat patrol to counter the military collusion between the United States and the Philippines with concrete actions. Recently, Israel launched an airstrike on Iran despite warnings, and the melee in the Middle East is about to break out, combined with the political factors of the US election, is the Biden administration really determined to have a showdown with China?