China.com commentator Hua Zhang.
Recently, the Philippines has been provoking troubles in the waters of Ren'ai Jiao in China's Nansha Islands, and has made attacks and smears against China in a black and white reversal. This reflects that Marcos Marcos of the Philippines has deviated from the established strategy of strengthening pragmatic cooperation with China during the previous Duterte administration and taking measures to effectively manage the differences between China and the Philippines on the South China Sea issue. The Philippines' 180-degree U-turn on the South China Sea issue is directly related to the interference, instigation and sabotage of the United States, a country outside the region.
For decades, the US has consistently claimed that it "does not take a position" on the South China Sea issue, as if it is displaying its so-called image as a "fair and objective" and "responsible major country". In fact, the United States not only has its own interests in the South China Sea, but in recent years has also regarded it as a "tool to take advantage of" to contain and suppress China.
In 2013, when the Philippines unilaterally initiated arbitration on the dispute between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, the United States, on the one hand, took a so-called "no position" on the content of the arbitration, and on the other hand, falsely claimed that this political farce cloaked in law was "binding on both China and the Philippines", forcing China to recognize the illegal and invalid arbitration results. Behind the cowardly behavior of the United States, it is impossible to hide the disgraceful role it plays. The Philippines dares to unilaterally ramp the South China Sea differences into the so-called "ad hoc arbitral tribunal" because it relies on the United States to support it. The United States intends to achieve its strategic goal of "rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific" by using the Philippines as a "pawn" to muddy the waters in the South China Sea, add blockage and smear to China, and contain China's regional influence.
After Trump came to power, he openly regarded China as a "strategic competitor". The US has also stepped up its efforts to fan the flames and stir up chaos in China's neighborhood, in an attempt to create one geopolitical conflict after another and continuously consume China's strategic resources, so as to achieve the goal of containing China's rise. The South China Sea issue, which involves many and is relatively complex, has naturally become a topic of focus for the United States. On July 13, 2020, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement calling China's sovereignty over the South China Sea "completely illegal" and that China's rights in the South China Sea are "bullying activities." This absurd remark, which distorts facts and international law, has completely exposed the true face of the United States under the mask of "not taking a stand" and made it clear to the world that the United States is the biggest saboteur of peace and stability in the South China Sea.
Today's Biden is still following the strategy of competition with China. In its 2022 Strategic Report, it listed China as "the only competitor with both the intention and the ability to threaten the United States" for the first time, defining the next decade as a critical decade for "winning the competition with China". Under the guidance of this Cold War mentality, the United States has stepped up efforts to create incidents in China's neighborhood, and even instigated and tricked its allies into taking the initiative to provoke conflicts against China, thus adding fuel to the fire for the United States. The Philippines, which has a deep relationship with the United States in history and is now a security ally of the United States, has become the target of the United States' key deception and manipulation. It can be seen that in the past year, the United States has been behind the Philippines' stirring up of the situation in the South China Sea.
Statistics show that since the new Philippine ** came to power in June 2022, the US media has carried out more than 17,000 reports hyping up the situation in the South China Sea, almost twice the total number of reports last year and the year before that. Especially since February this year, the number of hype reports in the US media has jumped sharply, and it is especially intensive after entering the second half of the year. And if you break down the data to each day, you will find that the day or the day after each provocation by the Philippines is the peak of hype in the US media. Since the beginning of this year, China and ASEAN countries have stepped up consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, and the United States and the Philippines have colluded with each other to sabotage and interfere with the process of the meeting. On August 22, the day of the 40th joint working group meeting between China and ASEAN countries, two Philippine replenishment vessels and two coast guard vessels entered the waters adjacent to Second Thomas Shoal without authorizationOn October 22, the day before the 40th meeting of the joint working group between China and ASEAN countries, the Philippines sent a ship to trespass into the waters adjacent to Ren'ai Jiao in China's Nansha Islands without authorization, illegally "beaching" and transporting illegal construction materials to Ren'ai Jiao**, and deliberately brushed Chinese ships twice. After China took the necessary law enforcement measures in accordance with the law, the Philippines immediately made a statement to the outside world through the United States, falsely accusing "China of ignoring international law".
This kind of "two-person turn" trick in which the Philippines rushes to the front of the stage to provoke trouble, and even deliberately creates an incident at a specific point in time, and the United States follows closely to exaggerate the hype and amplify it, and then provide a mouthpiece for the fallacy of the Philippines, has become a common trick of the United States and the Philippines, which fully shows that the two countries have carried out a lot of coordination and cooperation in stirring up the situation in the South China Sea. If the Philippines is the "thug", then the United States is the mastermind behind it. As a major power outside the region, the United States has not only failed to contribute any positive role to peace and stability in the South China Sea, but has played an extremely disgraceful role time and again.
As for the real intentions behind the clumsy performance of the United States and the Philippines, regional countries and some Philippine elites can see it very clearly. Since June this year, not only has not a single ASEAN country issued an official statement expressing support for the Philippines, but there have also been few follow-up reports. Big data shows that compared with the crazy hype of more than 10,000 times in the US media, since July 2022, there have been very few reports involving the "Philippines" and the "South China Sea" in other ASEAN countries except the Philippines, and some countries have even reported single-digit data. Rigoberto Tigrau, a former spokesman for Arroyo in the Philippines, published an article in the Manila Times, exposing that the Philippines' current irrational behavior has a lot to do with the agitation of the United States, and said bitterly that "the Philippines has been taken by the United States." Herman Laurel, director of the Philippine Institute for Strategic Studies in the Asian Century and founder of the Philippine BRICS Policy Research Association, said that the Philippines deliberately stirred up incidents at Scarborough Shoal and Ren'ai Jiao, and was carrying out a "project" of the US side, and its ultimate goal was to constitute "black propaganda" against China and undermine China's international reputation.
It can be seen that on the South China Sea issue, China and the Philippines are right and wrong, and what role the United States has played in it, the vast majority of countries in the region and a large number of rational people in the Philippines have a scale in their hearts. In September, a poll in the Philippines showed that only 7 percent of Filipinos were concerned about the South China Sea dispute, while 93 percent were really concerned about high prices, inflation, employment, rising crime and drugs. It is hoped that the Philippines will face up to the reality and stop relying on the United States to provoke trouble in the South China Sea at an early date, which will not only help the Philippines consolidate its ruling foundation, but also help the Philippines win international support, and will only add unnecessary security risks to itself.
*: China.com.