The supplies of Ren'ai Jiao could not be delivered, and the Philippines changed its target. Recently, the Philippines' coveting of Scarborough Shoal has deepened.
In view of the Philippine side's imminent move on Scarborough Shoal, China quickly strengthened its monitoring of the situation in this area, and more than 20 Chinese vessels, including coast guard ships and militia ships, gathered around Scarborough Shoal to prevent the Philippines from taking advantage of loopholes.
It has been reported that the Philippines intends to declare its so-called "sovereignty" over Scarborough Shoal by sending supplies to fishermen in the waters of Scarborough Shoal, as if it intends to turn Scarborough Shoal into a "second Ren'ai Jiao."
It is worth mentioning that with the previous experience of failure at Ren'ai Jiao, the Philippine side also came up with a "ghost idea". As we all know, most of the Philippine vessels that forcibly intruded into the South China Sea were official vessels such as coast guard ships or law enforcement vessels of the Fisheries Bureau, so the Chinese side was not polite at all and sent them home with water cannons. The Philippine ship is to come once, and break once.
Therefore, this time, the Philippine side has changed its approach and wants to carry out "moral kidnapping" against China. The specific plan of action is for a Filipino NGO "coalition" to send five large "wooden" commercial fishing boats and 100 fishing boats to Scarborough Shoal to send supplies to Filipino fishing boats there, in an attempt to "reassert its presence and rights at Scarborough Shoal." In this way, it argued, the Chinese coast guard ships would not dare to do anything.
[Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos advocates confrontation with China in the South China Sea]
However, the Philippine side is talking about civilian actions, but there are still things that should not be mixed in this fleet, and three Philippine coast guard ships will escort this fishing boat team. Looking at it this way, who would believe that this fishing boat operation did not have the official handwriting of the Philippines?
Moreover, the Philippine government has long had the idea of letting fishermen take the lead. It is because Chinese fishermen have played a huge role in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity in the South China Sea that the Philippines, which has suffered a lot, also wants to follow suit and create a group of "maritime militias".
At the scene of some conflicts in the South China Sea, Philippine government vessels and official-related vessels will play the role of "command ships" or "supply ships" to provide supplies to Philippine fishing boats that provoke China at sea and encourage Filipino fishermen to participate in confrontation with China.
Because in 2016, out of humanitarianism, China allowed Filipino fishermen to carry out small-scale artisanal fishing near Scarborough Shoal to ensure their livelihood, and even when they met Filipino fishermen, the Chinese coast guard would give them some food and fresh water, and Filipino fishermen would also share some catches, and the two sides generally got along relatively happily.
Even if China drives away Philippine vessels, it will only target Philippine government vessels that have forcibly intruded into the South China Sea. Moreover, it was only after Marcos came to power that this happened more and more frequently.
Now, the Philippine side is trying to use 105 fishing boats to "put on a show" at Scarborough Shoal and openly confuse the sovereignty of Scarborough Shoal, so the more than 20 Chinese ships deployed on Scarborough Shoal are not vegetarians. It is easy to get into the mouth of the people when it comes to fishing boats, but the Philippine side has specially sent three coast guard boats to escort them.
[Chinese Coast Guard Ship Drives Away Philippine Vessel Forcibly Intruding into the South China Sea]
The Chinese side is very experienced in dealing with Philippine coast guard vessels. Moreover, one of the three ships had been damaged by the Chinese coast guard's water cannons. Less than a month later, the Filipino ships wanted to revisit it.
The Chinese side has made it clear that the Philippines will fully bear the relevant responsibilities and consequences.
More importantly, if the Philippines uses fishing boats to make things happen in the South China Sea, the end result is likely to be that China prohibits Filipino fishermen from fishing at Scarborough Shoal and even in the South China Sea as a whole. It can be said that the Marcos administration has single-handedly undermined the stability of the situation in the South China Sea and the survival of Filipino fishermen.
When the time comes, how will the Marcos administration account to the people at home? You know, because of its focus on confrontation with China in the South China Sea, the Marcos administration has seriously ignored the plight of domestic economic development, which has led to serious dissatisfaction among the Filipino people.
If the Marcos administration insists on going its own way, Filipino fishermen cannot fish in the South China Sea, which will cause even greater public outrage. Even, the Filipino public will demand that the Marcos government and China use force in the South China Sea, which is clearly not what Marcos wants.
In fact, there are three main reasons for the current tension in the South China Sea and the deterioration of China-Philippines relations.
First, Marcos is firmly "pro-American" and believes that only by following the United States can he "eat wine and drink meat," so he is willing to act as the vanguard of the United States in dealing with China.
[Opening Ceremony of the U.S.-Philippines "Shoulder to Shoulder" Military Exercise]
Second, the Philippine military is "pro-American" and has a greater voice in Philippine politics, which can contain the Philippine president to a certain extent. In a sense, the Armed Forces of the Philippines are "proxies" of the United States.
Third, Marcos was blinded by the "generosity" of the United States. The military strength of the Philippines is not strong, and the obsolete ships given by the United States are "fragrant and sweet" in the eyes of Marcos.
And at the end of the day, Marcos is selling the country of the Philippines to the United States. And this will only leave the Philippines with one outcome, that is, to become a victim of American interests.
Therefore, the Marcos administration must realize that engagement with China is the real way out for the Philippines. The economy is the foundation of everything, and China has been the Philippines' largest trading partner for many years, and if the Philippines firmly believes in confrontation in the South China Sea, it is severing trade ties with China little by little, which will cause great harm to the Philippines.