Recently, there was a piece of news concerning the situation in the South China Sea that deserves attention: The chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) boarded the "Sierra Madre" landing ship illegally beached at Ren'ai Jiao in disguise, and openly hyped it up.
It seems that the Philippines intends to force China to fire the first shot before the "beach" breaks the ship and sinks to the bottom.
As everyone knows, the Philippine Navy's "Sierra Madre" landing ship has been "beached" at Ren'ai Jiao in China for 24 years, and although it promised to tow the ship away, more than 20 years have passed, and the Philippines has not only had no intention of towing it away, but has repeatedly and twice tried to transport reinforcement materials for the broken ship, which is about to disintegrate and sink, in an attempt to extend the life of the broken ship and provide an interface for the Philippine side to continue to enter and leave Ren'ai Jiao.
However, the Philippine plot was strongly dissatisfied with the Chinese side, and the Philippine side's action to deliver reinforcement materials to the broken ship was intercepted and driven away, so that the plot could not succeed.
Now, the "beach" has reached the point of falling apart, and the Philippine side, which has failed to achieve its "goal," has finally begun to get anxious, and has recently frequently dispatched ships with the support of the United States in a vain attempt to deliver construction materials to the broken ship for repairing and reinforcing the broken ship.
However, the Philippines does not want to bear the responsibility of undermining regional stability, so it has provoked China one after another in an attempt to force China to fire the first shot, so as to take the opportunity to shift all the responsibility for undermining regional peace and stability to China.
According to the China Coast Guard on the 10th, the Philippines insisted on sending 2 coast guard ships, 1 official ship and 1 supply ship to illegally intrude into the waters adjacent to Ren'ai Jiao in China's Nansha Islands on the same day, regardless of China's repeated dissuasion and warnings, and delivered supplies to the illegal "beaching"**. During this period, Philippine vessels also deliberately touched the Chinese Coast Guard vessel, and the Philippine boat "Yunaza May" No. 1 ignored China's repeated solemn warnings and deliberately rammed China's coast guard boat 21556, which was sailing normally for law enforcement, resulting in a scrap.
It should be pointed out that this is not the first time that the Philippine side has maliciously touched porcelain and rammed our ship.
In the early morning of October 22 this year, Philippine ships collided with Chinese ships twice. On one occasion, the Philippine yacht Yunaza Mayo No. 2 deliberately crossed the bow of the Haijing 5203 ship on normal law enforcement navigation of the Chinese side, causing a slight collision between the two ships.
Another time, the Philippine Coast Guard 4409 boat premeditated and took the initiative to reverse, and the tail collided with a Chinese fishing boat.
Obviously, the Philippine side's malicious behavior of touching porcelain and creating incidents is to deliberately create friction and escalate the situation in the South China Sea, so as to label China as a big hat of "bullying the small with the big" and defeating the strong with the weak, so as to undermine China's image as a great power in the international arena and play the image of a weak person bullied by China, in exchange for the sympathy of the international community.
In addition to ramming the Chinese vessel, the Philippines also "invited" foreign journalists to take photos on the spot, trying to find evidence that China was bullying the small, but the Philippines finally made a mistake.
However, no, the Philippines, which is unwilling to fail, has made another moth.
According to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, AFP Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr. and other high-ranking military officials visited the Sierra Madre on December 10.
According to sources, Brauner, together with Alberto Carlos, commander of the Western Command of the Philippines, and a small group of military personnel visited the soldiers on the "beach"**. Brauner arrived in the Yunaza May 1 boat, bringing Christmas gifts and Christmas Eve packages for the soldiers. This is the same vessel that collided with China Coast Guard Boat 21556 on the morning of December 10.
It is understood that Brauner, who was dressed in civilian clothes after dressing up, changed into a military uniform and began to pose for photos after boarding the broken ship. According to the on-site footage released by the Philippine media, these Philippine troops**, who finally boarded the "beach" with great difficulty, took a group photo with the Philippine Navy soldiers who were huddled on the dilapidated deck, and even had a party, and they also shouted that "this is ours".
Obviously, its purpose is to take the opportunity to create **, and then hype and put pressure on China.
In fact, Brauner and other high-ranking officials of the Philippine military are so eager to board the "beached" wrecked ship, which just proves that the broken ship is running out of time and is likely to disintegrate at any time. The reason why I chose to take a group photo with the personnel on the broken ship on the ** deck this time is because only the deck of the whole ship is suitable for people to stay.
It was previously reported that two large holes were broken on both sides of the hull of the beached ship, and only the deck remained in the activity area of the Philippine soldiers who were cowering on the ship, and the inside of the hull was likely to have been flooded.
It is worth mentioning that the day after the Philippine ship forcibly intruded into Ren'ai Jiao, Marcos also took the opportunity to shout, accusing the Chinese coast guard of "dangerous behavior" against Philippine personnel as a flagrant violation of international law, and claiming that the Philippine action was to defend and protect the sovereignty of the so-called West Philippine Sea. The reason why the Philippines has such an arrogant and rampant attitude on the South China Sea issue is that it relies on the United States to "support" it.
However, the United States, which is eyeing the South China Sea, has publicly stated that it will "assist the Philippines" on the issue of Ren'ai Jiao between China and the Philippines. In addition to solidarity, the US military directly broke into Ren'ai Jiao this time. According to ** reports, just a few days before the Philippine ship trespassed on Ren'ai Jiao, a US Littoral Combat Ship also appeared in the waters near Ren'ai Jiao.
Moreover, immediately after the Sino-Philippine maritime confrontation, the United States came out to "stand up" for the Philippine side, once again emphasizing that Article 4 of the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty applies to armed attacks by the Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft anywhere in the South China Sea. There are even US media sources saying that the US military is actively providing advice to the Philippines on how to send supplies to the illegal "beached"** and how to repair the broken ship.
In this case, Marcos** seems to have the "confidence" to stir up trouble in the South China Sea.
In response to the frequent provocations in the South China Sea by collusion between the United States and the Philippines, China has still adopted a relatively restrained defensive approach, mainly to prevent further escalation.
Of course, it would be a big mistake if the United States and the Philippines continue to provoke at Ren'ai Jiao and Scarborough Shoal and regard China's restraint as concession and fear. If the situation in the South China Sea does escalate, it is indisputable that it will only be the Philippines itself that will be hurt in the end.