Did you know?Over the years, China has recovered more than 40 islands and reefs in the South China Sea, but why is it silent about them?
The latest news shows that the Philippines has once again launched provocations in some waters of the South China Sea. After forcibly entering Ren'ai Jiao without any benefits, the Philippines went so far as to dispatch a frigate on October 30 to provoke the waters near Scarborough Shoal.
However, since the conclusion of the 2016 South China Sea arbitration, China has further gained de facto control of Scarborough Shoal.
This provocation by the Philippines will not bring any benefits. Now that they have upgraded the use of frigates, China has also had to use its naval and air forces in equal measure. At present, China's southern theater has issued a warning and dispatched naval and air forces to intercept and control the Philippines in accordance with the law, and to monitor and warn them.
If the Philippines insists on "doing death", it will have to bear the consequences of deliberately causing "miscalculation".
Filipinos may not be able to empathize with this, but Vietnamese people must be deeply aware of it.
Since the 70s, China has fought two quick naval battles in the South China Sea, recovering more than 40 islands and reefs.
With China's growing presence in the South China Sea in recent years, especially with the completion of the South China Sea reclamation project around 2015 and the regular patrolling of large coast guard fleets, China has de facto control over more than 50 islands and reefs.
Although some islands and reefs are not actually stationed, the strong layout of the South China Sea prevents other countries from illegally approaching them.
For example, the islands and reefs such as Half Moon Reef, Xianbin Reef and Xinyi Reef, which are within 150 kilometers of Mischief Island, the largest artificial island in the South China Sea, are already under China's actual control. The Philippines has already experienced this when it recently forcibly intruded into Second Thomas Shoal in an attempt to sabotage ships to transport construction materials while beached.
Although the Philippines still has a wrecked ship and about 10 soldiers illegally stationed at Second Thomas Shoal, even humanitarian supplies cannot be delivered without China's consent.
Recently, the Philippines once again forced its way into the waters of Second Thomas Shoal and rammed a Chinese coast guard vessel, daring to use a frigate in the waters off Scarborough Shoal without achieving any benefits. If they have a misunderstanding of China's strength and determination, it may be because they have a peculiar idea that China has not recovered enough islands and reefs, not fast enough, to experience something similar to what Vietnam once experienced.
How did China teach "South Vietnam" a lesson through a naval battle in the Paracels?And how did you fully recover nearly 40 islands and reefs in the Xisha Islands?
Although the Paracel Islands are in the South China Sea, they are relatively close to Chinese mainland, the most important of which is Woody Island, which is less than 300 kilometers south of Hainan Island.
However, due to the lack of ocean-going capabilities of the Chinese Navy at that time, although the Chinese People's Liberation Army occupied Yongxing Island in the Paracels in 1950, it was still unable to fully control the Xisha Islands, which now seem to be very close.
This was also seen as an opportunity by the South Vietnamese authorities. They claim that French colonizers had invaded and occupied Xisha Coral Island, and that since 1965, southern Vietnam has begun to occupy Xisha Coral Island, Ganquan Island and other islands and reefs, and later evacuated from Ganquan Island.
However, the more excesses occurred in 1973, when they directly included some of China's Xisha islands and reefs into the so-called "Vietnamese territory" at that time.
And not only on the map, in 1974 they began to directly send fleets to the north to occupy China's Xisha Treasure Island, Ganquan Island and other islands and reefs.
They even had the audacity to attack our fishermen and militia stationed on the islands. Faced with this extreme arrogance, China's leaders decided to send the South China Sea Fleet to the battle.
Although China sent 6 ships, 2 of them with the largest displacement minesweepers have a standard displacement of only 570 tons, and the other 2 types of 4 hunting submarines have a maximum tonnage of no more than 500 tons. In contrast, the Vietnamese side had four ships, not numerically superior, but all supported by the United States, which was far from China in terms of tonnage, with a total displacement of nearly 6,000 tons. Among them, the largest flagship has a tonnage of more than 2000 tons, and the smallest minesweeper has a standard displacement of 650 tons.
Despite the lack of tonnage and firepower, China still relied on correct command and flexible tactics to win the Battle of Xisha Sea, eliminating more than 100 enemy troops in South Vietnam and capturing nearly 50 people.
Although China suffered dozens of people and paid a considerable price as a result, it also established its prestige and pursued and recovered many islands and reefs occupied by South Vietnam.
The entire Paracel Islands were then completely under Chinese control.
As a result, the Paracels have been established as the core of the South China Sea, but China has remained low-key and quietly built the Paracels. The Spratly Islands face even more serious challenges. However, China later duly laid the foundations for what it is now in the Spratly with another naval battle.
In the 1988 Battle of Nansha, China suffered only one wounded, but the Vietnamese army had more than 400 people and recovered a total of eight islands and reefs in less than half an hour.
In addition to the strengthening of the navy and coast guard, the reason why China has been able to resist the encroachment and occupation of China's Nansha islands and reefs by neighboring countries such as the Philippines and other neighboring countries, and to achieve key control over important islands and reefs, is also very important: China has carried out large-scale projects on the reclamation and island-building projects in the South China Sea.
In particular, large artificial islands such as Mischief Island have directly become the largest artificial islands in the South China Sea, forming a core triangle to control Nansha with Fiery Cross and Subi Islands.
Some smaller-scale construction projects, such as Chigua Reef, Dongmen Reef, Gaven Reef, etc., form the core control.
As a result, islands and reefs such as Oxbow Reef and Anda Reef are also under China's de facto control. So even if we conservatively estimate that there are nearly 50 islands and reefs that China has actually recovered and controlled in the South China Sea, the actual situation may be better than we think. Over the years, China has controlled far more than 40 or 50 islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
After a "low-key" naval battle at Chigua Reef in the Spratlys, China has gained a foothold by retaking the islands and reefs that can now be built in the Spratlys.
The naval battle has greatly deterred neighboring countries that have been encroaching on China's Nansha islands and reefs. If it weren't for this naval battle, Taiping Island in Nansha, which may have been garrisoned by the Chinese Taiwan authorities to this day, would have fallen into the hands of other countries long ago.
Even if Taiping Island is not in this series of construction, it is still thanks to that naval battle.
In fact, as early as 1956, the South Vietnamese authorities had already begun to attack the Spratlys. They have successively occupied more than 10 Nansha islands and reefs, including Nankey Island, Nanzi Island, Dunqian Sandbank, Jinghong Island, and Nanwei Island.
At that time, the Kuomintang authorities in Taiwan stationed in Nansha would only blindly avoid the war and chose to compromise in the face of the gradual invasion and occupation. In the end, there was no way back, only Taiping Island remained, and at the same time, neighboring countries, especially the Philippines, also saw an opportunity and occupied many islands and reefs in China's Nansha.
For Vietnam, it has intensified. After the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975, North Vietnam, which had won the Vietnam War, turned its back on China's support and illegally "inherited" the islands and reefs occupied by South Vietnam, and occupied 26 islands and reefs one after another in 1975.
It wasn't until 1988 that the squadron made a move.
At that time, the squadron that was conducting an investigation near Chigua Reef in Nansha was provoked by the armed provocation of the Vietnamese army, so it made a decisive attack.
China's three ships have a displacement of about 1,500 tons, and although the tonnage is less than that of Vietnam's landing ships, they still give full play to the advantages of speed and firepower, and have achieved amazing results and established a foothold.