After the US and Philippine troops poured into the South China Sea, China and the Philippines clashed fiercely at Huangyan Dao, and foreign media voiced that China is not afraid of the United States. What "small moves" have the United States and the Philippines made when it concerns stability in the South China Sea? Why do foreign media say that China is not afraid of the United States?
The 2024 US-Philippine "Shoulder to Shoulder" joint military exercise, which is being conducted in the waters of the South China Sea, not only has the largest number of people, but also added highly targeted training on island grabbing, expanding the scope of the exercise to places not far from the disputed waters of the South China Sea, which has the meaning of "flexing muscles" against China. On April 28, five ships from the United States, the Philippines and France participated in a five-day multilateral maritime exercise as part of the "Shoulder to Shoulder 2024" joint military exercise, according to a release from the "South China Sea Strategic Situational Awareness" platform.
Although the influx of US and Philippine troops into the South China Sea could have been foreseen as early as the end of the first trilateral summit of the United States, Japan and the Philippines. However, it was unexpected for the Philippines to choose this time to hype up the dispute over islands and reefs in the South China Sea and to provoke in the waters near Scarborough Shoal. According to the China Coast Guard, on April 30, the Chinese Coast Guard drove away 4410 coast guard ships and 3004 official ships that the Philippines had invaded the waters near Huangyan Island in accordance with the law.
Judging from the live video footage released by the Philippine media, the Chinese coast guard ship collided with the Philippine official ship, but the water cannon of the Chinese coast guard ship continued to spray and did not stop for a moment, and in the end, the Philippine ship had to leave. In fact, this is not the first time that China has intercepted these vessels in the waters near Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal.
Earlier, the Philippine side had arranged for these vessels to deliberately "touch porcelain" in order to hype up the "dangerous law enforcement" of the Chinese coast guard. Combined with the recent offensive and defensive statements of China and the Philippines on the "gentlemen's agreement", it can be foreseen that the Philippine side is using concrete actions to tear up the agreement and force China to make concessions.
Considering that the "gentlemen's agreement" reached between China and the previous Philippine government has nothing to do with sovereignty, it is only for the sake of maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea and managing the situation on the ground at Ren'ai Jiao. Since the Marcos administration came to power, the Chinese side has repeatedly briefed and negotiated matters related to the "gentlemen's agreement" to the Philippine high-level officials, and there is no deliberate hype, and it can be said that the Philippines should bear the responsibility for the confrontation between Chinese and Philippine ships at Scarborough Shoal.
Some analysts have pointed out that the main reason why the Philippine government went to the waters of Scarborough Shoal to provoke is because the United States is behind it. Against the backdrop of the Biden administration's view of China as its "biggest strategic competitor", the Philippines wants to use the power of the United States to grab greater benefits in the dispute over islands and reefs in the South China Sea, and even take Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal as its own.
Judging from the current situation, although the US-Philippines alliance has made a good "small calculation", it cannot shake China's determination to defend its territorial sea sovereignty. The Australian website "Pearls and Stimulus" published an article titled: "Americans Don't Understand: China Is Not Afraid of the United States," which said that China has no room for compromise on the issue of sovereignty, because the United States will certainly trumpet China's compromise as a victory.
In this case, although China does not want a war with either side, it is ready to meet the challenge and will not be distracted by the usual belligerent posture of the United States. In view of the fact that the vast majority of countries want to maintain good cooperation with China, China will make steady progress on the road of independence and self-defense.
In fact, the reason why China is not afraid of the United States is that on the one hand, the improvement of its own strength has given China the ability to deal with challenges head-on, and on the other hand, China has always pursued the principle of replacing competition and confrontation with cooperation and development, and does not intend to become a hegemon at the expense of huge resources like the United States. In the words of Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, China will continue to take necessary measures to firmly defend its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.
China believes that blindly following the US trend and deepening US-Philippine security cooperation will do more harm than good. If the Marcos administration does not want China-Philippines relations to deteriorate further and the stability of the South China Sea to be further undermined, it should set the right direction toward China, because China will not succumb to the pressure of the US-Philippine alliance.