At the Western Pacific Naval Forum hosted by China, only the Philippines was absent, and Zhang Youxia also responded in public to the Sino-Philippine dispute, but a sentence from a British scholar directly broke the Philippines' defense.
In the past two days, the Western Pacific Naval Forum is being held in Qingdao, China, with the participation of naval delegations from 29 countries. As a highly influential military cooperation mechanism platform in the region, all countries attach great importance to the Western Pacific Forum. However, the Philippines was the only one who did not attend the forum.
There are a total of 23 member states and 7 observer states in the Western Pacific Forum, and all members of the forum are generally present unless there are special circumstances. This time, China, as the organizer, also sent invitations to all member and observer countries, but only the Philippines did not send any representatives. This situation has also attracted attention from all sides.
Senior Colonel Liang Wei of China's Naval Research Institute also said in an interview at the forum that the Chinese side did not know the specific reason for the Philippines' absence, but the invitation was given. It can also be seen from this that the Philippines did not give China an explanation on this matter this time. Therefore, there is a high probability that they did it on purpose.
After all, the contradictions between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea issue have become more and more prominent during this period, and the Western Pacific Forum also coincided with the joint military exercises between the United States and the Philippines. Therefore, it is likely that the Philippines will deliberately create a topic through this move to attract the attention of the international community and continue to play the image of a "victim".
Of course, this is actually quite stupid. The Western Pacific Forum provides a platform for exchanges and cooperation among countries, and participating in this forum will not only help promote exchanges between navies of various countries, but also help maintain maritime security and stability. The absence of the Philippines will not have any impact on the forum, but it will make them miss this unique opportunity.
At the same time, it also shows all walks of life who is out of place and who is disrupting the maritime order. In addition, all the countries participating in the meeting spoke highly of China. Therefore, if the Philippines does not come, it can only be stealing chickens and rice. Of course, at the opening ceremony of the forum, Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, also responded to the South China Sea issue.
Zhang Youxia stressed that China has always insisted on settling disputes through friendly consultation with the countries concerned, but China's goodwill will will never be allowed to be abused. Moreover, China has no intention of having a cold or hot war with any country, but its territorial sovereignty is not allowed to be violated by anyone. Obviously, Zhang's remarks are a warning to the Philippines not to challenge China's patience and bottom line.
It is worth mentioning that at this juncture, a British scholar also said a sentence that made the Philippines directly break the defense. It is reported that Anthony Carty, a British international law scholar, openly stated in a recent interview that China has indisputable sovereignty over Nanhai Zhudao.
He has been researching the South China Sea since 2009, and after collecting a large amount of information, he finally came to this conclusion, for which he has also published a book called "The History and Sovereignty of the South China Sea", which gives sufficient historical and legal evidence to confirm this.
Not only that, Kati also pointed out that the so-called "South China Sea arbitration award" is that some foreign countries seek private interests in the name of international law. And the Philippines' constant provocation of China in the South China Sea in recent years is nothing more than a farce, which pales in the face of history.
It can be seen from this that anyone with a discerning eye knows that all the manipulation of the Philippines in the South China Sea is meaningless, and that China's sovereignty over the South China Sea is an unshakable fact. Therefore, even if the Philippines does its best to win the support of foreign powers, it will not be able to change this. However, the Philippines has to pay a lot of price for this, and China has already made it clear many times that if the Philippines insists on going one path to the dark, it will only end up reaping the consequences.