This time, the Philippines will not only occupy Ren'ai Jiao, Scarborough Shoal and Xianbin Reef, but also vainly attempt to occupy the entire Nansha Islands.
A few days ago, the Philippine government suddenly submitted a document application to the United Nations, requesting the extension of the continental shelf of the "West Palawan Area" to extend the exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles. The document has been approved by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, and the Philippine National Agency of Surveying and Resources Information (NREIN) team has spent 15 years collecting geographic information to get the United Nations to approve it.
The Philippines dared to submit such an application document based on two motives, one is to expand the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone and seize islands, reefs and resources "in accordance with the provisions of the continental shelf section of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea". However, there is an overlap between the areas claimed by the Philippines and those claimed by China. According to the rules of procedure of the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, it is likely that its application will not be considered.
On the other hand, in a vain attempt to occupy the entire Nansha Islands, the Philippines has proposed to expand its continental shelf in order to implement the territory claimed by the so-called "South China Sea Arbitration", consolidate the eight Chinese islands and reefs it has occupied, and whitewash its provocative actions on Scarborough Shoal, Ren'ai Jiao and other islands and reefs in the South China Sea, thus arousing international sympathy and support. If the Philippines expands its exclusive economic zone from 200 nautical miles to 350 nautical miles, it means that hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of territory, including the Spratly Islands and their affiliated waters, as well as seabed oil and gas mineral resources, will be owned by other countries.
The most important thing is that once China lacks the Nansha Islands, it will be difficult to enter and exit the South China Sea, the strategic space will be greatly reduced, and maritime trade will also be disrupted.
The Philippines not only made an application, but also took action to confront China, and if the text fails, it is ready to use force to confront it. At 5:59 a.m. on June 17, a Philippine supply ship illegally intruded into Ren'ai Jiao and deliberately approached our coast guard ship dangerously, resulting in a collision. Subsequently, the Chinese coast guard took control of a Philippine vessel, and foreign media said that the Philippine ship was seized.
In the direction of Scarborough Shoal, on June 14, the Philippines dispatched two large patrol ships with Japanese assistance to cooperate with each other and prepare to forcibly enter Scarborough Shoal. In fact, in the vicinity of Ren'ai Jiao, Scarborough Shoal and Xianbin Jiao, China has already deployed 075-class amphibious assault ships, 055-class large destroyers, 071-class dock landing ships, 052C missile destroyers and 054A missile frigates.
It turns out that the Philippines is building a shore-based anti-ship missile position at a naval base off the coast of West Luzon Island, where BrahMos anti-ship missiles procured from India are deployed, which have a range of 300 kilometers and can cover China's Scarborough Shoal and other islands and reefs. In addition, the Philippines has deployed the 4th Marine Brigade and is building more missile storage depots and launch vehicle depots. If the situation escalates, the Philippines will provoke a maritime conflict with the support of U.S. satellites.
In addition, the Philippines is likely to deploy BrahMos anti-ship missiles on the occupied mainland Thitu Island to cover the entire Nansha Islands in order to further seize Scarborough Shoal, Xianbin Jiao, and Ren'ai Jiao. However, China has already built a large amount of infrastructure in the South China Sea, forming an offensive and defensive defense system, which can use the Beidou navigation system to grasp the movement of targets.