At present, the situation in the waters of the Spratly Sea has become more tense. In the past 24 hours, our coast guard has issued a rare three alerts, all of which are related to the Philippines. On December 9, a Philippine ship suddenly appeared near China's Scarborough Shoal and tried to forcibly invade, and then was quickly brought under control by China's coast guard ships.
On December 10, the Philippines again dispatched ships to cooperate with the transport and supply ships to forcibly intrude into China's Ren'ai Jiao in an attempt to deliver construction materials to the landing ship, but it was also discovered and dealt with by China's coast guard in a timely manner. The Philippines' incursion into Scarborough Shoal and then on Second Thomas Shoal suggest that the country is likely to show more and more obvious ambition and provocation.
The emergency situation in the South China Sea has been substantively placed before us, especially the Spratly Islands. China's coast guard is likely to strengthen its control over relevant maritime areas to ensure our sovereignty and security. At the same time, the guts of the Philippines seem to have risen to a higher level, and the provocations against us have become more egregious.
According to the news released by China's coast guard at 8:19 a.m. on December 10, two Philippine coast guard ships, an official ship and a supply transport ship, broke into Ren'ai Jiao again, but were intercepted by China's coast guard ships. In the course of the standoff, the Philippine ship Yunaza May 1 ignored our intervention.
The China Coast Guard vessel 21556 has repeatedly issued serious warnings to the Philippine vessel, accusing it of deliberately ramming the Chinese coast guard vessel by abruptly changing course in an extremely unprofessional and dangerous manner. The incident arose when the China Coast Guard ship 21556 was on a law enforcement mission. The Chinese sea surface made it clear that the responsibility for the accident rested entirely with the Philippine ship.
The Philippine side then released a screenshot of the collision site. ** Shows that the China Coast Guard vessel 2156 was using water cannons to warn at the time, a common tactic in clashes with Philippine vessels. However, instead of retreating, the Philippine ship chose to change course and use its speed advantage to get very close to the Chinese coast guard ship.
After the collision, a member of the Filipino ship also stepped out of the hatch and calmly observed the situation, showing no signs of anxiety. This behavior not only shows the fearlessness of the Philippine side, but also suggests that they may have insight into the bottom line and methods of the Chinese coast guard.
The Chinese Coast Guard ships are equipped with naval guns, etc.**, and if the situation is extreme, the coast guard has the right to deal with the enemy**. According to normal logic, the Chinese coast guard should be on high alert relative to the Philippine ships with backward technical equipment. However, the Philippines has become more emboldened in previous conflicts, perhaps because they have learned that the Chinese coast guard will not take the lead.
In handling relevant contradictions and confrontational incidents, we have always followed a basic criterion, which is also a characteristic criterion for China's foreign exchanges. The advantage of adopting this approach is that we can try to avoid some countries with ulterior motives from making a big fuss about this and creating an unfavorable situation for our country in the international arena.
However, the long-standing use of such norms has also had some negative effects, making our position clear even to small and weak countries like the Philippines. They are well aware that in the course of the confrontation, China's coast guard will absolutely not use firepower.
After understanding our bottom line, the Philippines still showed no concern even after the confrontation or collision, and even took the initiative to release a video of the scene, showing a fearless posture.
The author believes that although the principle of not firing the first shot can give Japan a more flexible strategic space, with the changes in the situation in the surrounding area, especially in the South China Sea, and the blatant provocation and ambition of the Philippines, too much adherence to this principle may lead Japan to a passive situation.
The fact that a weak country dares to frequently provoke in our waters, even though it is inferior to ours, dares to directly collide with us, has already explained the problem. In the author's view, any rules or guidelines should be adjusted accordingly in response to actual external changes. Everything in the world is constantly changing, and if you stick to the rules, you will not be able to do your own good.
Therefore, in dealing with relevant contradictions and confrontations, we should remain vigilant and adjust our strategies in a timely manner according to changes in the external environment to cope with the ever-changing international situation.