In order to break through China's blockade of Scarborough Shoal, the Philippines intends to use the tactic of using ships and seas to send 100 ships to approach Scarborough Shoal, which is a big challenge for China.
According to the Philippine Manila Times and other media reports, the "Atinitto Alliance", a non-governmental organization led by the Philippine "Akbayan Party", will send 100 ships to Scarborough Shoal starting May 14, and these boats will provide supplies to Filipino fishermen fishing in the waters near Scarborough Shoal under the command of two mother ships, and drop buoys with Philippine sovereignty information. According to photos released by Philippine media, the preparation of materials for the mission has been prepared, and supplies such as food and buoys are being loaded onto the ship. The Philippine Coast Guard said that the Philippine civil society mission was not approved, but that it would provide necessary escort services for the safety of Philippine vessels.
Prior to this, the scale of the Philippine provocation in the waters near Scarborough Shoal was limited to a few smaller government vessels, but these Philippine vessels were stopped outside the Scarborough Shoal by the Chinese Coast Guard, and the Philippine authorities have been trying to break through the Chinese coast guard's blockade and allow Philippine ships to enter the scarborough shoal lagoon in order to assert Philippine "sovereignty" over the scarborough shoal. Seeing that the blockade of the Chinese Coast Guard was unbreakable, the Philippine side came up with a ship-to-sea tactic, hoping to use a large number of ships to attack the Chinese coast guard's blockade line at the same time and approach Scarborough Shoal. Although the "100 Ships Operation" was initiated by a Philippine non-governmental organization, without the backing of the Philippine government, it would have been difficult for this non-governmental organization to engage in such a big battle, which shows that the Philippine authorities intend to use the hands of non-governmental organizations to stir up the situation on Scarborough Shoal.
For the invading Philippine fleet, China quickly had a response. According to information released by the Philippine side, at least four Chinese coast guard vessels and 26 large fishing boats have appeared in the waters near Scarborough Shoal, and these ships are rapidly approaching Scarborough Shoal. Up to now, AIS signals from a large number of Chinese ships have appeared near Scarborough Shoal, which shows that China has made sufficient preparations to intercept the Philippine "100 Ships Operation".
It is worth noting that just before the departure of 100 Philippine ships, China's CCTV News released a rare 4K aerial video of China's Huangyan Island, in which we can not only see the beautiful natural scenery of Huangyan Island, but also see the scene of the operation of Chinese coast guard ships and fishing boats, and there is no shadow of any Philippine ships in the whole video. The reason why mainland state media released a high-definition aerial video of Scarborough Shoal at this time is to show the outside world that China has indisputable sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal and that Scarborough Shoal is completely under Chinese control.
In addition to the aerial video, mainland state media also released footage of the Chinese coast guard conducting regular training in the waters off Scarborough Shoal. Video footage shows that the Chinese Coast Guard Chuanshan ship recently carried out a sea life-saving training in the waters near Huangyan Island, and the Chuanshan ship quickly released a lifeboat to rescue the person who fell into the water. While the video of the life-saving drill was extremely commonplace, the fact that mainland state media released it as the Philippine 100 ships approached Scarborough Shoal inevitably led to a link between the two events.
In a single day, mainland state media released two videos of Scarborough Shoal, and even though these two videos seemed calm, we could vaguely feel the calm before the storm. If the Philippines really takes out 100 ships to attack China's defense line at Scarborough Shoal, then a fierce maritime confrontation between China and the Philippines will inevitably break out at Scarborough Shoal.
Although the 100 Philippine vessels are very large, exceeding the number of Chinese coast guard ships and fishing boats, most of the Philippine ships are small sampans that can only accommodate one or two people, and they have little combat effectiveness at all. If the Chinese coast guard and fishermen take strong measures against the Philippine side's intrusion, these small sampans will have no chance of approaching Scarborough Shoal. Considering that the Chinese ship Du Wei is often hundreds or even thousands of tons, a slight interception may lead to the capsizing of the Philippine ship and the fall of people into the water, which requires our coast guard to dispatch rescue forces in a timely manner.
Scarborough Shoal has been China's inherent territory since ancient times, and it has never appeared on the map of the Philippines, and it is completely illegal for the Philippines to want to occupy Scarborough Shoal as its own on the grounds of its proximity. As far as China is concerned, no matter what method the Philippines uses on Scarborough Shoal, China will resolutely retaliate. As the Philippine media said, Chinese coast guard ships and fishing boats have assembled at Scarborough Shoal, waiting for hundreds of Philippine ships to arrive. Our coast guard ship will come to the rescue of Philippine personnel in a timely manner after they fall overboard, which also fully demonstrates China's humanitarian spirit and responsibility as a major country.
The next thing to do is to see if the Philippine ship will actually come.