On April 22, the "Shoulder to Shoulder" exercise jointly launched by the United States and the Philippines officially began, with the participation of 14 countries in addition to the United States and the Philippines. Australia and France will send some troops to participate in the exercise, and Japan and other countries will participate as observers.
The signal sent by this exercise was different from the previous ones, and the number of people participating in the exercise was very large, about 17,000. In addition, the US side dispatched the USS Roosevelt nuclear aircraft carrier, which had never been done before. Before the exercise, the United States and the Philippines had been targeting China, and the location of the exercise was not only in the South China Sea, but also focused on island seizure and sea strikes. In addition, before the exercise, the Indian side officially delivered the BrahMos anti-ship missile to the Philippine side. All indications show that the United States and the Philippines have made it clear that they are provoking China in the name of the exercise, and they cannot even rule out the possibility that the exercise will directly escalate into a conflict or war.
According to the public information of the Continental Maritime Safety Administration, from 6 p.m. on April 24 to 6 p.m. on the 27th, the People's Liberation Army will carry out military exercises in the South China Sea, during which unrelated ships are prohibited from sailing in some sea areas.
Recently, the mainland's Wuzhan-7 has also been hovering over the South China Sea not far from the Philippine mainland to monitor the movements of "Typhon." In addition, the mainland's Xianyang warships have recently "played around" around the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries to demonstrate to the outside world our military's formidable ocean-going combat and cruising capabilities.
The Philippines floated and was directly absent from the annual meeting of the Navy
With regard to the attitude of the United States and the Philippines, China has always hoped that relations between the United States and the Philippines can be eased, especially on the South China Sea issue, and China has always hoped that China can work hand in hand with the Philippines to jointly maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea. However, the Philippine side has always been unwilling to accept China's good intentions, relying on the support of the United States and not taking China seriously, not only openly stating that it will not abide by the "gentlemen's agreement" reached between Lao Du and China on the broken ship at Ren'ai Jiao, but even when China issued an ultimatum demanding that the Philippine side tow the broken ship away as soon as possible, Marcos Jr. also drew a red line for the Chinese side and made it clear that he would not drag it.
The Philippine side's daring to openly argue with China is nothing more than relying on the US side's promise that it will provide the Philippine side with certain assistance. In addition, the "Typhon" medium-range missile system deployed by the United States in the Philippines some time ago has also given the Philippines great confidence. Since the arrival of "Typhon", it can be clearly felt that Marcos Jr.'s waist has hardened a lot, and the clamor on the South China Sea issue has become more serious.
In addition, at the 19th annual meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Forum held on April 22, 30 countries were supposed to attend, but only 29 countries actually attended, and about 20 of them were led by the top leaders of the Navy and related departments.
Although the United States did not send a naval commander-in-chief, it also sent a newly appointed commander of the Pacific Fleet to lead the team, and Japan originally planned to have senior officials of the Maritime Self-Defense Force participate, but because of an accident, other officials had to participate.
Generally speaking, although the United States and Japan have been very vocal about China during this period, they have not openly refuted China's face, and still sent people to attend the annual meeting. In contrast, the Philippines, the only one who did not attend the annual meeting, seemed a little ignorant.
The United States, as the big brother, came to participate, but the Philippines dared not come. Marcos Jr. did not send people to participate for two reasons: one was to show the United States and ask for praise, and the other was that he did not plan to negotiate with China on the South China Sea issue, showing his determination to "fight to the end."
The Philippine side hopes to win over ASEAN countries, but Singapore bluntly refuses
In the past, the Chinese and foreign ministers met with the foreign ministers of ASEAN countries except the Philippines, and the main content of the talks was on the disputes in the South China Sea. China needs to understand the thinking of these ASEAN countries and know which ones are enemies and which are friends. I thought that some countries would support the Philippines, but who knew that everyone supported China one-sidedly, and even Vietnam, which the United States has been courting, expressed support for China.
As peace and stability have been restored to ASEAN, it is not a smart idea to enlist external forces to intervene at this time. However, the Philippine side has never seen through it, but has pressed forward step by step, fearing that the United States will not intervene in this dispute.
ASEAN countries have long been dissatisfied with the Philippine side's behavior, so when the Chinese side asks, they all support China.
When Singapore's foreign minister visited the Philippines not long ago, the Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs took the initiative to express the hope that Singapore would stand on the same front as the Philippines on the South China Sea issue. In addition, the Philippine side also pointed out that on the South China Sea issue, the Philippine side hopes to obtain broad support within ASEAN. In this regard, the Singapore side rejected the Philippine side's wooing.
Now it is generally clear to the outside world that the United States does not care about extinguishing fires at all, except for provoking fire. If we really follow the United States to ignite the fire in the South China Sea, it will definitely not be the United States on the other side of the ocean.
For ASEAN countries, strengthening close cooperation with China is the most convenient shortcut to their development. However, if it follows the Philippines in doing things, China will inevitably reduce its cooperation with ASEAN, and it will only be itself that will suffer economic shocks. If you have to live a good life, you have to die in heaven and earth, and if you really want ASEAN countries to be the same as the Philippines?
Therefore, apart from following the United States, the Philippines should not be able to find an ally in ASEAN. However, it is not necessarily, the United States has been stepping up its efforts to woo Vietnam recently, and there are many disputes between China and Vietnam over islands and reefs in the South China Sea.