In recent days, U.S. State Department Under Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific Affairs Campbell held talks with China's vice foreign minister to discuss issues related to the South China Sea. In the aftermath, the State Department issued a brief statement on its official Twitter account, saying that Campbell had expressed U.S. concerns about the South China Sea, particularly Second Thomas Shoal, to the Chinese diplomatic counterpart. Campbell threatened that the United States would continue to support free sea and air navigation in the South China Sea, stressing that everyone must abide by international law. The United States' obligations to the U.S.-Philippines Joint Defense Treaty are as firm as ironclad. He also threatened China that it is very important to guarantee peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Finally, he also asked China to stop supporting Russia's defense industry and play a constructive role on the Korean Peninsula issue.
It can be seen that Campbell has taken out all the issues related to China for which he is responsible, but has not achieved any substantive results. In public statements, the Americans also deliberately referred to Second Thomas Shoal, a name imbued with colonialism and imperialism. At the same time, Foreign Minister Manalo of the Philippines, the other side of the Ren'ai Jiao issue, openly stated in the Senate that the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has organized a special working group and hopes to hold talks with the Chinese side in July to formulate confidence-building measures. The Philippine ambassador to the United States also said that the Philippine government believes that China does not want a large-scale conflict, and the Philippines does not want such a thing, so the two sides have a good starting point for negotiations. Interestingly, no matter how the United States and the Philippines cooperate, China has not publicly responded to the Philippine diplomatic department's proposal.
Many people are not optimistic about the Philippine proposal, because China will resolutely defend its sovereignty over the Spratlys, and as long as the Philippines does not withdraw the Sierra Madre, the two sides will have nothing to talk about. As for returning to the framework of the gentlemen's agreement, the Philippines may have thought too much and reneged on its promises many times, and it is unlikely that China will accept the next time.
Some Filipino scholars said that it is impossible for the Philippines to give up its national interests, and if China does not recognize this problem and is unwilling to take care of the Philippines, then there is nothing to talk about. The implication is that the Philippines has little strength, but with the protection of the iron-clad US-Philippine Joint Defense Treaty, China had better make concessions. Some US politicians, perhaps precisely because they saw the tremendous damage to the image of the United States caused by not counting their words, were very anxious to suggest that the United States should come up with substantive means to prove to China the effectiveness and majesty of the US-Philippine joint defense treaty. However, people waited for days, not for the U.S. fleet or the U.S. Coast Guard formation, but for Deputy Secretary of State Campbell's concern.
In fact, the Biden administration does not care about the Philippines right now. In the just-concluded first-round presidential campaign debate, Trump and Biden, two white-haired old men in their 80s, engaged in an extremely low-level mutual abuse. Neither side has made any appealing explanations of the major policies of the United States, and most of the time has been spent on personal attacks. Both accused the other of being unfit to be president, spraying each other with insulting language. This has disappointed countless American voters, believing that the American political system is finished. How can such a United States take care of the Philippines' small goal at Ren'ai Jiao?
There are still more than five months to go before the US election comes to a result. Previously, people had been worried that if Trump won the election and re-entered the White House, he would adopt a tougher and more crazy policy towards China. Now it seems that everyone needs to worry about another thing, whether Biden or Trump is the 47th president of the United States, do they have normal logical thinking and mental strength to perform their duties? If both of them have lost the ability to think as national leaders, how long can the United States continue to function normally? What's even more worrying is that how can a small follower like the Philippines live?