On May 15, new news came from Scarborough Shoal, AFP reporters claimed that Philippine commercial ships had recently sailed from the Philippines to the waters around Scarborough Shoal on board about 200 Filipino "civilians", and the relevant Philippine organizations that organized the event said that the purpose of their voyage was to protect their rights and interests in the so-called "disputed waterway".
At the same time, the Chinese Coast Guard also released a video of on-site law enforcement on the same day, in which the 3502 ship of the Chinese Coast Guard shouted at the scene to warn the Philippines of illegal trespassing on ships.
It is not difficult to see that in the recent period, around the friction in the South China Sea, the Philippine side has come up with a new means of touching porcelain, and the main body of porcelain touching has begun to shift from official to "non-governmental".
The China Coast Guard enforces the law normally in waters under the jurisdiction of the mainland
Specifically, some time ago, the Philippines repeatedly sent official ships and coast guard ships to try to deliver illegal building materials to Ren'ai Jiao, but was decisively intercepted by the Chinese coast guard, forcing the Philippine side to "raise the white flag" and surrender.
At the same time, in the waters near Scarborough Shoal, the Chinese coast guard also used water cannons to block Philippine official vessels, forcing them to dare not continue to use the coast guard or official official vessels to encounter porcelain in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
On the one hand, this shows that as the Philippines has repeatedly refused to listen to the persuasion, China's countermeasures have become more and more direct, and the Marcos Jr. government, including the Philippine military, has gradually realized that if they continue to send coast guards and official ships to provoke in the South China Sea, they are likely to be cleaned up.
At that time, not only the Philippines may not be able to save face, but the Marcos administration cannot afford the consequences of a conflict with China in the South China Sea. Therefore, the Philippine authorities have begun to deliberately restrain the behavior of the coast guard and official vessels in touching porcelain.
Filipino fishing boats
But on the other hand, it also reflects the stubborn position of the Philippines on the matter of encountering porcelain provocations in the South China Sea, the official ship did not dare to come, but the civilian boat came, and it carried more than 200 people.
This is a bit of a dilemma, because using private merchant ships and fishing boats to touch porcelain means that China wants to put China in a dilemma of international public opinion.
However, it is clear that China does not accept this set, and the truth about the South China Sea issue is very clear, and the Philippines may be able to use public opinion propaganda to incite some Filipino people, but it cannot blind the eyes of the international community, and many ASEAN countries are well aware of China's attitude.
On the one hand, from China's point of view, the relevant islands and reefs in the South China Sea are China's territorial waters, and whether they are Philippine civilian vessels or official vessels, they are all Philippine vessels, and their forcible intrusion into China's Scarborough Shoal, including some disputed waters, is an act that undermines China's sovereignty. In order to safeguard its legitimate maritime rights and interests, China will definitely block this.
Scarborough Shoal is an inherent territory of the mainland
On the other hand, civilian ships are still different from official ships, although Philippine ships are not necessarily civilians, and there are likely to be military or political figures mixed in, but the Philippine propaganda at the official level is determined to be "civilians".
If they are intercepted and blocked by water cannons, they may fall into the trap of public opinion fabricated by the Western media, and they will inevitably be taken out of context to smear and tarnish China's image.
In fact, this is an attempt to use civilians as "meat shields" to put pressure on China, so that the Chinese coast guard department will have some concerns and dare not take action when intercepting these civilian vessels from the Philippines from trespassing into China's territorial waters and islands and reefs.
It is no wonder that Bobby Tuazon, director of the Center for Good Governance of the People, a Philippine think tank, recently warned that "many people in the Philippines have not yet realized that the country is being betrayed by the president, and some of the generous gifts from the United States to the Philippines are intended to use the Philippines to fight a proxy war, and once this happens, what awaits the Philippines will be a failure."
Bobby Tuazon, director of the Center for Good Governance of the People, a Philippine think tank
The Philippine government completely ignores the safety of its own people and treats civilians as tools to touch porcelain, which can be said to be extremely irresponsible.
But on the other hand, from China's point of view, since the Philippines can play its cards out of the box, we can naturally use some "extraordinary measures" to deal with it. So how does China respond to the Philippines' bottomless strategy?
In response to a question from an AFP reporter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that Huangyan Dao is China's inherent territory, and China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Dao and its adjacent waters.
Wang Wenbin also mentioned that as early as 2016, China made goodwill arrangements for a small number of Philippine small fishing boats to carry out normal fishing activities in the waters near Scarborough Shoal, but if the Philippine side abuses China's goodwill and infringes on China's territorial sovereignty and jurisdiction, China will defend its rights and take countermeasures in accordance with the law, and the relevant responsibilities and consequences will be borne by the Philippine side.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin
Wang Wenbin's response actually implies China's views on this matter and the possible means to deal with it. First of all, China stresses that Scarborough Shoal is China's inherent territory and that we have indisputable sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal and its adjacent waters.
That is to say, whether you come from the Philippines as an official official vessel, a coast guard vessel, or a civilian commercial vessel or fishing vessel, there is no doubt about China's sovereignty and jurisdiction over Scarborough Shoal and the surrounding waters.
Second, Wang Wenbin also specifically mentioned China's temporary arrangements for some small Philippine fishing boats to fish in nearby waters after 2016, and said that if the Philippines abuses this goodwill, then the relevant consequences and responsibilities will be borne entirely by the Philippine side.
To put it bluntly, China has allowed some Philippine fishing boats and civilian vessels to fish in the waters near Scarborough Shoal, not because they have any privileges there, but because China is unwilling to embarrass one or two fishing boats out of a humanitarian spirit.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos
It's like planting a fruit tree at home, and the neighbor's child is greedy for stealing one, and I don't care, it's not that you are right to steal it. Now that the Philippine government is bent on provocation and flatly denies the previous "gentlemen's agreement" between China and the Philippines, then whether China will continue to make temporary humanitarian arrangements for Philippine fishing boats is a matter to be determined.
To put it bluntly, in the past, Philippine fishing boats occasionally came to fish, and we pretended not to see it, but now they have repeatedly made trouble, so don't think about fishing in the future.