It's really abnormal!
According to common sense, the Philippines should be the country that is most worried about China's land reclamation in the South China Sea, and the current situation is that there is a force in the Philippines that seems to want China to restart the South China Sea land reclamation project and provoke disputes on its own.
Just a few days ago, the Philippine Coast Guard claimed that China was trying to build an "artificial island" at the Spratly Sembin Reef on the grounds that it had found "coral fragments dumped by Chinese fishing boats" there, in order to slander China for "destroying the marine ecology" and then maliciously spreading rumors that it was a "precursor to China's construction of artificial islands and reefs".
Coral sandbar at Xianbin Reef, China
The Philippines first sent patrol ships to invade Xianbin Reef, and then claimed that the purpose of sending the ships was to monitor China's so-called "illegal island-building activities" and photographed the so-called "evidence" at Xianbin Reef, but in fact China was only there with fishing boats, and the coast guard quickly went forward to deal with the abnormal actions of Philippine official ships, forming a situation in which China was absolutely dominant and the Philippines was squeezed to the periphery of the reef.
Situation map of Xianbin Reef on May 9, 2024
Many self-media on the Chinese Internet have exclaimed that China is about to build an island in Xianbin Jiao, which is an extremely irresponsible remark at the moment, and the action of the Philippines has alarmed Reuters and other international media, so China's self-media should not add fuel to the fire.
A Reuters reporter asked a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry for confirmation:
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said:
In a big country like China, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson's statement can basically be equated with an official attitude, and the performance of both sides makes it very clear that the Philippines has been hyping up China's construction of islands at Xianbin Reef, while China has vigorously objected to it, saying that China has not built islands, and that the Philippines is spreading rumors.
Now is a critical period for the peaceful rise of the Chinese nation, and the possibility of restarting the island-building operation when the situation in the South China Sea is stable is almost zero, unless it is strongly provoked by the outside world and arouses huge public opinion pressure in the country, and it is only possible to restart the island-building operation when the situation in the South China Sea is stable.
In the past six months, the Philippines has been organizing forces to invade China's Scarborough Shoal, Ren'ai Jiao, and Horseshoe Crab Reef, and has also illegally landed on the Nansha Iron Line Reef.
In such a situation, it is not necessarily a fantasy for China to build islands again, and it can even be said that the Philippines is now "urging" China to resume island-building operations, and the Philippines knows too well that China will not build islands again in a peaceful environment, and can only be fiercely stimulated.
Just as China took action after the Scarborough Shoal standoff and the South China Sea arbitration, there is a wave of netizens in the Philippines who want to spur China into action, because their actions at Sembin Reef are simply shouting at China: "You are building an island!" ”
What is the Philippines' unusual desire to promote China's island-building in the South China Sea? A simple analysis shows that there are two reasons why the hardliners in the Philippines are acting in this way.
First of all, after the Philippines provoked a tough stance on China, a surging anti-China wave has accumulated in the country, some of which cannot withstand it, and the recent news from the Philippine side that it will send more than 100 Filipino civilians to Scarborough Shoal in the middle of this month to carry out the so-called "civil mission" is an example.
Last year, a non-governmental organization in the Philippines did this, and 40 civilian ships formed a so-called "Christmas fleet" and set off from Palawan Island to go straight to Ren'ai Jiao, but before they could reach Ren'ai Jiao, they were intercepted by our coast guard, and finally had to return in a huff.
Philippine civil society groups explain the "forcible break-in" plan
After more than half a year of incitement, there are even a large number of civilians carrying improvised oil drums on the coast of the Philippines, even if they do not have fishing boats, they have to support the extreme situation of people with boats rushing into China's islands and reefs, this kind of sentiment can no longer be stopped, and can only be transferred to the outside world, but the difficulty is that the South China Sea crisis was provoked by the Philippines itself, and they have described to the people a false imaginary enemy, the fact is that there is no such "enemy", and this imaginary enemy can only be turned into a real enemy.
Located 155 kilometers east of Palawan Island in the Philippines, Sembin Reef is very close to the Philippine coast and is a high-quality fishing ground, and is China's best outpost to protect Ren'ai Jiao.
Location map of Sembin Reef
More importantly, Xianbin Reef is one of the largest reefs in the Nansha uninhabited reef, with a reef body of 23 kilometers long, 7 kilometers wide, and a total reef area of 84.2 square kilometers.
Satellite image of Sembin Reef
The second reason is that the Philippines wants to use this to pull the United States into the water, and the Philippines' invasion of islands and reefs in the South China Sea was instigated by the United States.
As a pawn, the Philippines invaded islands and reefs in the South China Sea dozens of times, and each time it was attacked by the Chinese coast guard's water cannons and fled back in a hurry, and some Philippine media bluntly said that the United States would definitely not send warships to confront the water cannons of the Chinese coast guard ships, and the only way to let the United States end up was to tempt or stimulate China to restart island building.
The United States is well aware of the threat posed by China's island-building, which has helped China reverse its passive position in the Spratlys, with the largest island, Mischief Island, which is nearly 6 square kilometers in size, and is now a new city on the sea, surrounded by dozens of islands and reefs.
Mischief Island stretches for more than 10 kilometers
Partial aerial view of Mischief Island
After the completion of Mischief Island, the United States has repeatedly sent warships to try to intrude into its 12-nautical-mile range, but failed, and without these islands, the entire Nansha sea area would be the United States' "freedom of navigation" waters, so the Philippines believes that the United States will not sit idly by and watch China build islands again, and can pull the United States into the water by stimulating China to build islands.
Aerial view of Mischief Airport
In general, the Philippines also believes that China's resistance to building islands again is very great, and the scale will not be too large, but it can deflect domestic contradictions, pull the United States into the water, win international sympathy, and stimulate Vietnam to take action, so even if it stimulates China to build islands, what does it matter? But if China does act, the Philippines will shoot itself in the foot.
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