Recently, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos visited the United States to strengthen defense cooperation with Japan and the United States by smearing China. The U.S. "coterie" in the Indo-Pacific has basically taken shape, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, and Canada. The Philippines is actively provoking in the South China Sea, while the United States and its allies are treating them as forward bastions or large military bases. And very similar to the previous "Ukraine model", the US military began to deploy weapons and equipment in the Philippines on a large scale, in the name of enhancing its "defense capability", but in fact, it is to use others as cannon fodder. Recently, the U.S. Army has even deployed an "intermediate-range strike system" in the Philippines. In this case, India also has to intervene.
Recently, it was reported that India delivered the first BrahMos anti-ship missile to the Philippines. Earlier this year, according to the Indian media "Eurasian Times", the Philippines will officially deploy India-supplied BrahMos missiles at the beginning of this year in response to China's activities in the South China Sea. As early as 2022, the Philippines spent $375 million to order BrahMos missiles from India, procuring five companies of 100 BrahMos shore-based anti-ship missiles, but the first one will not be delivered until 2024. If you want to equip BrahMos missiles, you need warships with large tonnage and complex weapon systems, but at present, the Philippines simply does not have suitable warships to carry them. What's more, the reputation of the BrahMos missile is not good, and Vietnam next door once took out a loan to buy 20 rounds, and the first 4 rounds were all lost during the test, and they don't need to be taken care of after launch, because they can't be managed at all, so angry that Vietnam wants to return it. To some extent, India's BrahMos missile is the most dangerous, because it is unpredictable and prone to miscalculation and friction. Since there are no suitable warships to carry them, and the BrahMos missiles do not have a good reputation, then why does the Philippines still buy them? There is only one explanation, and the general arms purchases have political implications, and the Philippines wants to win over India to get involved in South China Sea affairs.
Not long ago, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar visited the Philippines, and the two sides made a lot of nonsense on the South China Sea issue. During a meeting with his Philippine counterpart, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that he supports the Philippines in defending its sovereignty, criticized China's many actions in the South China Sea, and hoped to strengthen defense and security cooperation with the Philippine side. India has always been a key part of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, but India is unwilling to be subservient to the United States, especially the recent sudden deterioration of U.S.-India relations, it is difficult for the United States and India to reach a consensus on the Indo-Pacific strategy, and the Philippines is indeed a good intermediary. Moreover, this is also in line with India's "eastward expansion policy", and India's desire to contain China has never stopped. However, China's layout is almost complete. The port of Kyaukphyu in Myanmar, which China has been granted a 99-year lease, is bordered by the port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka and the port of Gwadar in Pakistan, with India in between. There are also Chittagong in Bangladesh, Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Gwadar in Pakistan and Bagamoyo in Tanzania, as well as a Chinese military base in Djibouti. The West and India have repeatedly interpreted China's efforts to build ports along the Indian Ocean coast as a strand of pearls for India. If India is normal, then it must also be a normal trade port, and if India has to actively provoke China's core interests, then this can indeed become a "string of pearls" to contain its opponents.