The hand is stretched too long, and there is only one ...... in the end
From December 9 to 10, the Philippines seriously violated China's sovereignty near China's Scarborough Shoal and Diaoyu Islands for two consecutive days.
Therefore, the Philippines has taken the most important means to slander China. The United States, as the behind-the-scenes leader who instigated the Philippines to provoke China, could not sit still, and personally went out to support the "little brother", and opened its mouth to accuse the Chinese ships of recklessly using water cannons and threatening the safety of Philippine ships and personnel.
The United States also issued an appeal that China should abide by the 2016 International Court of Justice ruling and stop dangerous and destabilizing behavior. At the same time, the United States also asserted that the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty also applies to the South China Sea, and according to the treaty, the United States will work with its allies to defend itself against any attack on a Philippine ship or aircraft anywhere in the South China Sea.
In general, the United States has put forward two major requirements for China and drawn a bottom line. The two major demands are that China comply with the so-called 2016 South China Sea arbitration and that China not "provoke" US allies in the South China Sea.
The bottom line is that if the Philippines is attacked in the South China Sea, the United States will come out to protect it. Obviously, while the US demands are unfair and unreasonable, they also demonstrate its geopolitical intentions in the South China Sea.
First of all, from the perspective of the incident itself, it is a fact that Philippine ships have repeatedly provoked China and trespassed into the waters near China's Scarborough Shoal and Ren'ai Jiao, and China has taken measures to safeguard its sovereignty, and China's actions are fully in accordance with international law.
The United States, on the other hand, has chosen to ignore the provocative behavior of the Philippines in intruding into the waters of other countries, and has turned a blind eye to the fact that the Philippine ship maliciously collided with the Chinese vessel, and directly sided with the Philippine vessel, which seriously deviates from the principle of a just settlement of regional disputes, not to mention that the United States is not a party to the South China Sea dispute in the first place.
The United States chose to come forward at this time and speak for the Philippines, with two strategic intentions behind it. First, in the eyes of the United States, now is the time to encourage the Philippines to stir up chaos in the South China Sea. As everyone knows, the Philippines has tried to provoke China many times this year, but each time it has been blocked by China and can only return with a feather.
The Philippines, bent on seizing interests in the South China Sea, has chosen to step up its provocations and escalated the situation by sending ships to ram Chinese ships. The United States believes that supporting the Philippines in escalating its provocations at this time is tantamount to adding fuel to the fire and helping to muddy the calm situation in the South China Sea.
Second, the United States is desperate for a geopolitical collision to contain China's rise and maintain its hegemony. At present, the United States is constrained by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and other issues, but it has achieved a strategic opportunity for China's vigorous development. The United States is concerned that once China takes advantage of the opportunity to develop, it may catch up with the United States and gain a strategic advantage.
Therefore, the United States, which does not want China to catch up with its own development, hopes to create some trouble for China, such as letting the Philippines, which is backed by the United States, provoke China and create opportunities for the United States to collide geopolitically.
But the fact cannot be ignored is that the Philippines is far from powerful enough to challenge China. Even if the Philippines does everything in its power to provoke China, China only needs to maintain its strategic focus and adopt flexible and effective strategies and tactics to make the other side retreat without a fight.
Of course, we also need to take effective measures to maintain long-term peace and stability in the South China Sea. If China does not take action, ASEAN countries and the international community may see China's goodwill as a concession.
Therefore, as a responsible major country and an important country in the South China Sea, it is necessary for us to resolve disputes through dialogue, cooperation and solutions based on international law, so as to contribute to the early stabilization of the regional situation.