The Nansha Islands have been one of the inalienable territories of the mainland since ancient times, and were briefly controlled by Japan during the Republic of China, and the government of the Republic of China took back control of them from the Japanese after Japan's surrender.
However, the ensuing War of Liberation left the Kuomintang with no time to pay attention to the islands and reefs in the South China Sea, where they had only a small number of troops stationed at that time, and their control over the South China Sea was very weak.
Due to the lack of naval strength, the new China was unable to penetrate its influence into the South China Sea.
Such a situation has given Southeast Asian countries an opportunity to occupy the mainland's maritime territory.
The conflict between Vietnam and China has been the most intense, with fierce naval battles between the two countries fighting for control of the Paracel Islands.
In the Spratly Islands, the Philippines has become China's biggest threat.
As early as the end of World War II, the Philippine government had a covetous heart for the Spratly Islands, and they frequently said in the international community that the Spratly Islands were closer to the Philippines and therefore should be the territory of the Philippines.
But distance has never been the basis for drawing borders, and they have received little positive response.
The U.S. triple island chain blockade China plan
With the formation of the Cold War pattern and the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Americans began to pay attention to the situation in the South China Sea, and they hoped to turn Southeast Asian countries into their "breakwaters".
Control of the South China Sea is key to this strategy, and they do not want the South China Sea to be completely controlled by the mainland.
To this end, the United States enlisted its allies to sign a new treaty with Japan in the absence of China and the Soviet Union.
This treaty revised the previous clause in the "Cairo Declaration" and changed the stipulation that Japan had invaded Chinese territory and returned it to China and changed it to Japan merely relinquishing its sovereignty over Spratly Island and other Chinese territories it had occupied, which was tantamount to denying the Kuomintang authorities' sovereignty over the Nansha region, and the Filipinos finally had an opportunity to take advantage of it.
But the Philippines is relatively weak militarily and does not dare to clash with China head-on, so they chose to let the principal of a private maritime training school, the Philippine Navigation School, enter China's territorial waters under the pretext of exploration.
It then reached some of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea, claiming that they were "terra nullius" outside the territorial waters of the Philippines but not under the jurisdiction of any country, and later issued a "Declaration to the World" claiming that they had established a new state here called "free land".
Croma
His move immediately drew strong condemnation from New China and Taiwan, and the Taiwan side also demanded that the Philippines stop such an absurd act by Cloma.
However, at this time, the Philippine government wants to rely on Croma's actions to disrupt the situation in the South China Sea, and wait until the time is ripe to add Croma's freedom into its territory, so they are very passive in dealing with Croma's affairs.
In desperation, Taiwan dispatched warships to the waters around "Liberty" to force Croma to leave the South China Sea by force of deterrence.
However, due to Taiwan's need to ensure the security of the Taiwan Strait at that time, the warships in the Spratly area quickly left, after which Vietnam took the opportunity to occupy Spratly Island and other islands.
The actions of the Vietnamese gave Kloma hope of "recovering the free land", and he subsequently issued several statements emphasizing the "sovereignty" of the free land, and also frequently moved around the Spratlys.
This has always kept the Philippines paying close attention to this area, and has provided conditions for the Philippines to "recover" freely in the future.
China has restored its lawful seat in the United Nations
In the 70s of the last century, two major events related to the situation in the South China Sea occurred, the first was that New China replaced the Kuomintang government into the United Nations, which also represented a formal change in the sovereignty of the Nansha Islands.
However, at this time, the navy of the new China did not yet have the ability to fight in the open ocean, which made the defense of the Nansha Islands very empty.
The second is that during the oceanographic expedition in the 60s of the last century, scientists discovered that the South China Sea was rich in oil reserves, which gave the Filipinos hope of making a fortune in economic crisis.
Taking advantage of the fact that the new China did not gain a firm foothold in the South China Sea, they sent soldiers to occupy many islands in the South China Sea, and used political means to coerce Chroma to hand over freedom to the Philippine government.
In an effort to mitigate the impact of the invasion, the Philippines borrowed Croma's rhetoric, claiming that the islands it occupied were terra nullius and not involved in a dispute over sovereignty with China.
Their disregard for the facts has drawn solemn protests from New China and Taiwan.
However, at this time, the Chinese government is actively promoting the repair of diplomatic relations with the United States, and the Philippines is an important ally of the Americans.
By the end of the 70s, with the resolution of the Hong Kong and Macau issues, China began to devote more energy to the South China Sea issue.
In 1987, China was commissioned by the United Nations to build a research station on Fiery Cross Reef in the South China Sea, much to the unease of the Vietnamese who had encroached on the surrounding islands.
In March of the following year, they launched an attack on Chinese warships around Fiery Cross Reef, and after a brief exchange of fire, the Chinese Navy won a resounding victory and the Vietnamese had to withdraw from the area around Fiery Cross Reef.
The victory in the battle marked a successful foothold of the Chinese navy in the South China Sea, and the Philippines, whose military power is not comparable to that of Vietnam, has become much more restrained, but they have not returned the islands they occupy to China.
At a time when China is aggressively expanding its influence around the world, Chinese leaders have extended an olive branch to the Philippine government to develop trade, despite disputes over the South China Sea.
The proposal of "shelving disputes and developing together" has brought the relationship between China and the Philippines into a honeymoon period, and China has quickly become one of the important importers of the Philippines.
However, in the 90s of the last century, the relationship between China and the Philippines changed again, when the economic crisis broke out again in the Philippines, and the attitude of the United States towards them gradually became cold.
In order to divert the attention of the people and regain U.S. assistance, the Philippines launched provocations against China at Mischief Reef and Scarborough Shoal.
In both cases, the Philippines sent warships to threaten mainland fishermen and try to sabotage the mainland's exploitation of its islands.
In the Scarborough Shoal conflict, China and the Philippines have been caught in a long-term standoff, which has brought relations between the two countries to a freezing point.
In the face of the unreasonable provocation of the Philippine side, while the Chinese side sent warships to safeguard territorial integrity and the safety of its citizens, the high-level officials were also actively communicating with the Philippine government, hoping that they would put the overall situation first, but the Philippine side still refused to give in, and the situation reached a deadlock for a time.
It wasn't until 1997 that the Philippines and its Western allies were hit hard by the global economic crisis, and China, which had maintained a high economic growth, came to their aid.
The Philippine government took the initiative to withdraw from the disputed area in order to expand trade with China, and the situation in the South China Sea calmed down.
China Coast Guard
But in the new century, the situation changed again, and as China's national power continued to grow, the United States began to see China as the greatest threat.
Therefore, after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended, the United States began to devote a lot of energy to the South China Sea.
But it is clearly unwise to engage in a direct conflict with China, so the United States has chosen the Philippines as its spokesperson.
The Philippines was once again in economic trouble, so in 2012 they invaded Scarborough Shoal again and detained several Chinese fishermen.
Faced with this situation, the Chinese side chose to respond strongly, and the mainland sent a number of guard boats to the disputed area, and the Philippine Navy, which was obviously at a disadvantage, began to seek a new "solution".
This time, they sought the support of public opinion from the United States, Japan, Britain and other countries, and wanted to engage in "international arbitration" with China over the sovereignty of Scarborough Shoal.
Naturally, China rejected the Philippine side's unreasonable demands, because the sea area has always been China's territory, but the Philippine side has completely ignored China's warnings and is bent on advancing the South China Sea arbitration case.
Finally, on July 12, 2016, the outcome of the South China Sea Arbitration was officially announced, and the International Court of Justice ruled in favor of the Philippines, denying the legitimacy of China's borders and China's historical ownership of the South China Sea.
The verdict touched the Chinese government's bottom line, and the mainland's refusal to accept the arbitration result continued to escalate the situation in the South China Sea.
In order to "support" the younger brother, the United States, an ally of the Philippines, even sent an aircraft carrier fleet into the South China Sea in an attempt to force China to comply.
After the South China Sea crisis, the Chinese Navy mobilized all its elite fleets to the South China Sea and deployed the most advanced anti-ship missiles in the southern part of the mainland.
At the same time, the mainland also released to the world the coordinates and travel routes of the US aircraft carriers, which proved to the Americans that China already has the ability to lock down and intercept the US aircraft carriers.
After the U.S. military considered it, it had no choice but to leave in a huff, and then the Philippines lost the confidence to confront China, and the outcome of the South China Sea arbitration case has since become a piece of waste paper, and now the area around Scarborough Shoal is full of Chinese fishermen.
After the South China Sea crisis was resolved, the Philippines' attitude towards China changed again, and they actively participated in China's Belt and Road Initiative and benefited a lot from it, and the situation in the South China Sea once again entered a period of calm.
However, with the recent changes in the situation between China and the United States, as well as the impact of the international economic situation on the Philippines, it is obvious that the Philippine side has to change its camp for domestic interests, and they have recently made a big fuss about the Scarborough Shoal issue.
However, the new China, which has experienced the previous crisis, has made it clear: as long as it has enough strength, it will not be afraid of these clowns, and believes that in the future, we will eventually recover all the islands and make the sovereignty of the South China Sea no longer disputed.
Resources:
1. Bai Xinjie, "The Historical Evolution of the South China Sea Dispute between China and the Philippines", published in March 2020;
2. Deng Jia, "Research on the Strategic Differences between Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea after the Cold War", Nanyang Studies, 2019.02.
Thank you for reading, welcome to like and forward, or leave a message in the comment area to share your views, if you like my article, you can click [Follow], so that you can receive the article push as soon as possible.