The atmosphere is in place, but the Philippines stepped on the brakes, and the current round of Scarborough Shoal turmoil has come to an end? On May 16, a Philippine NGO claimed that it had "successfully completed its mission," but people familiar with the matter revealed that the group's fishing boat had actually stopped more than 50 nautical miles from Scarborough Shoal and had not "completed its mission."
Filipino fishing boats are holding back
In fact, the Philippines has been brewing about this infringement for a long time. Early in the morning of May 15, the so-called non-governmental organizations in the Philippines gathered more than 200 people to wave Philippine flags and chant slogans at the starting point to check in and take pictures, and put on a posture of vowing not to give up until the goal was achieved.
According to the original mission set by the organization, it was necessary to break into the 12-nautical-mile waters around Scarborough Shoal in order to complete the mission. However, the Chinese coast guard waited left and right near Scarborough Shoal, and did not wait for the Philippines' so-called "rush" operation, which turned out to be 50 nautical miles away from Scarborough Shoal, and the Philippine fleet had already stepped on the brakes.
Then the organization unilaterally announced that "the mission has been completed", and on the morning of the 16th, the Philippine official ship had begun to withdraw with some fishing boats in the direction of the Philippine mainland, and has now withdrawn about 15 nautical miles. So how did the Chinese side manage to let the Philippines withdraw on its own initiative without spending a single soldier?
The Filipino ships retreated
In fact, although there was no head-on collision between China and the Philippines at Scarborough Shoal this time, there has been no shortage of confrontations between the two sides in the past 48 hours. First of all, after learning that the Philippines intended to organize civilian ships to break into China's islands and reefs, CCTV issued three messages in a row, introducing the regular training of the Chinese coast guard in the waters off Scarborough Shoal, as well as disclosing aerial images of Scarborough Shoal for the first time.
At the same time, China's coast guard has carried out life-saving training near Huangyan Dao, which shows that we are ready to deal with all emergencies and protect the lives of fishermen while defending national sovereignty.
Earlier, the Zunyi warship of the "10,000-ton drive" of the Chinese navy, as well as the Haikou warship and the Kunming warship, formed a joint formation and went to a certain area of the South China Sea to carry out a live-fire exercise.
The Chinese Navy's "10,000-ton drive" Zunyi ship
On the evening of May 15, China issued a final warning to the Philippines at the diplomatic level, emphasizing that China has indisputable sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, and if the Philippines continues to ignore China's goodwill and insist on violating China's territorial sovereignty, China will take necessary measures to counteract and defend its rights in accordance with the law, and the consequences arising from this will be borne by the Philippines itself.
Having said that, it would be boring for the Philippines to pretend to be confused if it wants to understand. We didn't care about the previous petty fights, and the original intention was not to escalate the situation in the region, but if the Philippines uses China's goodwill as an excuse for its own gain, it will misjudge the situation, and the consequences will be very serious.
Fortunately, the Philippine high-level still has a trace of sanity, and is very aware of the huge power gap between China and the Philippines, if it is tough, it is destined to have no good fruit to eat, so there is still 50 nautical miles away from Scarborough Shoal, and the brakes are stepped on, on the one hand, because China's warning has indeed worked, and on the other hand, it also shows that the strong deterrence of the Chinese coast guard has left the Philippines without any chance to exploit loopholes.
The Chinese Coast Guard enforces the law in the South China Sea
This farce seems to have come to an end, but the Philippines' porcelain behavior in the South China Sea is far from over, and only by completely cutting off the interference of foreign forces can the situation in the South China Sea usher in long-term peace and stability.
From May 13 to 15, China and ASEAN countries held an important meeting on the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, at which representatives of all parties had an in-depth exchange of views on the current situation in the South China Sea and reached a consensus on the need to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the overall situation in the South China Sea and strive to reach an early conclusion of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.
This shows that maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea is the universal vision of countries in the region, and that a few noises cannot stop the peace process.
China and ASEAN countries held important meetings
All in all, if the Philippines insists on luring the wolf into the house and taking advantage of the fire, it will only end up isolating itself, while countries in the South China Sea, including China, will give full play to their power to turn the South China Sea into a sea of prosperity and Asia into a highland of peace.