Just when the Philippines was absent from the Western Pacific Forum and went to conduct military exercises with the United States, China's layout was about to end.
According to foreign media reports, on the 22nd, the Philippines was still absent from the Western Pacific Forum held by the Chinese Navy when the US military sent people to attend the meeting, while at the same time, the United States and the Philippines launched the 2024 "shoulder to shoulder" joint military exercise in Manila. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Philippines is preparing a road to the dark. But time is running out for the Philippines.
Also on the 22nd, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, after the seventh meeting of the China-Cambodia Intergovernmental Coordination Committee, mainland Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Senate Chairman Hun Sen, and this is already the seventh senior government official of Southeast Asian countries that mainland Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with this month.
Beginning on the 3rd of this month, Comrade Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the mainland, began a round of intensive diplomatic interaction with Southeast Asian countries.
At the beginning of the month, after meeting with the foreign ministers of Guangxi and Laos, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam, they met with Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand in Beijing.
Just when everyone thought that China's round of diplomatic interaction with Southeast Asia was coming to an end, on the 18th, Comrade Wang Yi arrived in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, and met with Indonesian Foreign Minister, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, and Indonesian President-elect Prabowo, opening an all-round dialogue between China and Indonesia.
Before Comrade Wang Yi ended his trip to Jakarta and went to Phnom Penh, he visited Papua New Guinea, a little-known Pacific island country.
At this point, April was coming to an end, and Comrade Wang Yi spent nearly a month holding talks with senior officials from seven of the 11 Southeast Asian countries. But this round of diplomatic interaction is not over yet!
According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia's foreign minister will also visit China this month, and it is reported that Singapore's newly appointed Prime Minister Lawrence Wong may set China as the target of his first visit after taking office.
At a time when the game between China and the United States is deepening and the world situation is becoming more and more sensitive, China and Southeast Asian countries can still maintain such intensive interaction and such high-level dialogue, which shows not only China's strong diplomatic capabilities, but also the friendship between China and Southeast Asian countries.
Speaking of which, I don't know if you have felt that a rolling trend is coming?
As Comrade Wang Yi said, creating bloc confrontation does not meet the urgent needs of island countries, and this is also a truth that all countries in Southeast Asia understand; no matter how far the major powers are in confrontation, the most important point in maintaining regional peace is not to take sides and not engage in bloc confrontation.
But the problem is that the consensus that was once reached in Southeast Asia has now been broken by one country, and that country is the Philippines.
Throughout April, the actions of China and the Philippines were simply worlds apart, and while the mainland's foreign minister was busy running for peace, the Philippines was secretly preparing military exercises with the United States, not only using Chinese-made ships as target ships, but Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was also dumbfounded by the "gentlemen's agreement" reached between the previous Philippine government and China.
Southeast Asian countries see all this in their eyes.
From the moment the Philippines was absent from the Western Pacific, its end was already doomed, because it stood not only on the opposite side of China, but also on the opposite side of Southeast Asia and even the world.