On April 22, four major China-related events occurred in the Philippines, and now that the Marcos administration has fully turned to the United States, cooperated with the United States to contain China, and created incidents in the South China Sea, these four China-related major events are basically enough to show that the Philippines is going to go all the way with the United States and will act as the vanguard of the United States in opposing China.
On April 22, the Chinese Navy hosted the 19th Annual Meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Forum, the last time China hosted it in 2014, which was attended by navies from 29 countries, including the United States. However, the Philippines, a member state, was absent from the annual meeting without any reason, and the Chinese side said that it sent an invitation letter, but the Philippine side did not attend and did not give a reason.
The purpose of the meeting was to enhance maritime security cooperation and strengthen trust and understanding among the participating countries. In an interview with the Global Times, Zhang Junshe, a naval military expert, said that the Philippines has always taken the initiative to provoke incidents in the South China Sea, but deliberately played the role of a "victim" to win the sympathy of international public opinion.
Zhang Junshe's answer was to the point: The Philippines acted as the vanguard of the United States' anti-China efforts, took the initiative to provoke incidents in the South China Sea, and created tensions in the South China Sea.
From the standpoint of the Philippines, even if they participate, the relationship between the two sides will not be much better, and they will act as the vanguard anyway, so why bother to do superficial engineering again, and simply not come. In the eyes of the outside world, it was the Philippines that deliberately did not participate and gave China a threat. Zhang Youxia attended the naval forum and delivered a speech, affirming China's position: We will not cause trouble and will never be afraid of it, and the Chinese military will resolutely defend the reunification of the motherland and national interests.
What is the Philippines doing in the absence of the annual meeting? Actively participating in the "shoulder-to-shoulder" military exercise between the United States and the Philippines, which lasted from 22 April to 10 May. On April 22, 5,000 Philippine troops and 11,000 U.S. troops assembled in the northern and western waters of the Philippines, which are close to the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, respectively, and are closest to the battlefield in the event of a conflict.
The main purpose of this exercise is to simulate an armed landing on the island and sink an "enemy ship," which is the only ship made by a certain big country in the Philippine Navy, which has been hyped up before. In-depth military cooperation between the United States and the Philippines is likely to increase tensions in the South China Sea.
For this military exercise, the headquarters of the armed forces in Manila gathered a large number of people to demonstrate against the military exercises of the United States and the Philippines and demand that the Philippines abolish the military agreement with the United States.
On April 22, the Philippines announced that it would conduct a hydrographic survey in the waters east of Thitu Island, and relevant vessels should pay attention to avoid them. Thitu Island is the second largest reef in the Spratly Islands and has been Chinese territory since ancient times. In 1971, the Taiwan army withdrew to Taiping Island to avoid a typhoon, and the Philippines took the opportunity to land on the island. In this way, Thitu Island was forcibly occupied by the Philippines, and it was renamed as a garrison and relocated.
At that time, China's navy was not strong enough, but the current Chinese navy is not the navy of 50 years ago, and the Philippines' behavior is a serious provocation to China's sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. If the Philippine vessels really intrude into the waters east of Thitu Island, then our coast guard ships and fishing boats will expel them.
The last thing is to say that the Philippine military is investigating and monitoring Chinese citizens in the Philippines, and even asked Zamboanga Province to monitor the entry and exit of Chinese citizens, and the reason given by the Philippine side is that "there may be Chinese agents." How ridiculous is this statement, and there is no excuse for the crime that you want to add. The Philippine media hyped that so many Chinese citizens went to different parts of the Philippines to provide intelligence to the Japanese military in Hawaii before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
I have to say that the Philippines looks at itself, we are a peace-loving country, we will not make the first move, only when we are violated, we will defend ourselves and fight back, and moreover, a Philippines does not need a blitzkrieg sneak attack.
At the same time, the Philippine military top brass believes that the main task in the Philippines has shifted from quelling the insurgency to internal defense. Judging from the changes in the Philippine military and political situation in recent years, it is obvious that the Philippines is targeting China and investigating and monitoring Chinese citizens. At present, there are still quite a few Chinese tourists, Chinese students, and businessmen in the Philippines, and these Chinese nationals, as well as the more than 2 million Chinese in the Philippines, are likely to be harmed by the increasingly fierce anti-China tide in the Philippines.
After all, Southeast Asian countries have a history of Chinese exclusion, especially when the Philippine economy is in a recession, the gap between the rich and the poor is very large, and the unemployment rate is very high. Under these circumstances, Marcos, an extremely pro-American faction, completely turned to the United States, erected the banner of anti-China, and diverted domestic contradictions, which was in his interests and the interests of the United States.
The Times of India reported that India's "BrahMos" missiles exported to the Philippines have arrived in the Philippines, which is the largest military export order in India's history, with a range of 290 kilometers and a flight speed of Mach 2.8, used for anti-ship and precision guidance, and is deployed in the western Philippines, enough to cover Scarborough Shoal and Tainan. In addition, the medium-range ballistic missile system deployed by the United States in northern Luzon in the middle of this month can launch ballistic missiles of 1,700 kilometers, covering most of China's southern and southeastern regions.
It can be seen that the Philippines is probably clinging to the thighs of the United States, and the road has gone dark. Even though Duterte's henchmen acknowledged the existence of a gentlemen's agreement with the Philippines and a code of conduct in the South China Sea with Southeast Asian countries, Marcos said his administration was not aware of the so-called "gentlemen's agreement", and even if it did, it was scrapped.
In this regard, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in a statement on the 22nd: The consensus reached between China and the Philippines on Ren'ai Jiao not only exists in the previous government, but also exists during the current administration, and the Philippines has repeatedly denied it. Breaking promises and repeatedly provoking will only escalate the situation and ultimately harm the Philippines itself. It is hoped that the Philippine side will face up to reality and make rational decisions.
But with the current attitude of the Marcos administration, it is clear that such reminders or warnings will not work at all. Judging from the anti-China sentiment in the Philippines and from the point of view of cooperating with the United States' foreign policy of containing China, what we should pay attention to is the safety of Chinese capital and Chinese citizens in the Philippines; after all, they are being treated differently for investigation and surveillance, and how much security is there to speak of? However, the more than 2 million Chinese in the Philippines hope that they can pay more attention to the situation, heighten their vigilance, and not become victims of certain nationalists or politicians in the Philippines to realize their interests.
To borrow an opinion piece from the Philippine Manila Times: US interests in Asia are temporary, but China's interests are eternal. We must learn how to live in peace with China. For a country like the Philippines, which combines geopolitical and historical international factors, it is understandable that it cannot help itself, but it must put itself in the right position and not easily stand in line and act as a pawn in the game of great powers.
Resources
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The Philippines' repeated provocations in violation of its commitments will eventually affect itself Beijing News
The Philippines received the first batch of Indian-made "BrahMos" missiles with a range of nearly 300 kilometers The Paper
The Philippines has no reason to be absent from the Western Pacific Naval Forum, expert: It cannot be ruled out that the Philippines will deliberately be absent to disrupt the forum Global Network
Zhang Youxia delivered a speech: "We will not cause trouble, and we will never be afraid of it."
The largest scale to date! The United States and the Philippines launched the Guangming Network amid "shoulder to shoulder" protests