It's not that you're strong, it's just that you're letting go! Recently, the Philippine side has made a lot of noise about the success of their supply ship to resupply the broken ship "Sierra Madre" that ran aground on Ren'ai Jiao, as if it had successfully broken through. However, as for the hype on the Philippine side, China's coast guard only said lightly that we just let the Philippines go.
In 1999, taking advantage of the fact that China's navy was not strong enough at that time, the ship suddenly sat on the beach at Ren'ai Jiao in the South China Sea, and for 25 years, the Philippines has used this broken ship to maintain its military presence at Ren'ai Jiao, trying to create a fait accompli, and then annex China's Ren'ai Jiao. However, today's China is no longer what it used to be, and now it doesn't even use the navy, and the Chinese coast guard alone is equipped with more ships and ** than the Philippine Navy's ships.
China's coast guard is now the largest in the world, surpassing the U.S. Coast Guard and Japan's coast guard
With the continuous growth of China's navy and coast guard, daily patrols in the South China Sea have also become compulsory courses for the navy and coast guard, and at the same time, in order to effectively curb the small actions of the Philippine side in Ren'ai Jiao, China's coast guard dispatched a number of patrol ships to completely block Ren'ai Jiao, and Philippine ships, whether navy, coast guard or fishing boats, can not get close to Ren'ai Jiao at all. For this reason, the Philippines has enlisted the so-called "South China Sea Patrol" organized by many countries in an attempt to put pressure on China.
The US military's LCS is characterized by its high speed, and the US military once tried to break through China's blockade around Ren'ai Jiao with LCS).
It is worth mentioning that during the US-Philippine joint exercise last year, the US Navy sent an LCS "Littoral Combat Ship" close to Ren'ai Jiao at night in an attempt to provoke the Chinese coast guard stationed there. However, because China's coast guard had already been in full battle, and the navy was also deployed in the surrounding area at that time, as the backing of the coast guard, the US ** boat did not get the slightest bargain, and finally had to return to the sea by itself. In addition to the United States, the Philippines has also enlisted Japan, Australia and other countries to organize joint cruises, and even tried to win over Vietnam to jointly confront China.
The FA-50 of the Philippine Air Force and the Australian P-8A patrol Oxbow Reef together, the FA-50, a small aircraft that is only used as a training aircraft, but is the most advanced "fighter" of the Philippine Air Force).
There is an old saying in China, called "striking iron still needs its own hardness", the Philippines, a weak and poor country that wants military strength but no military strength, and financial resources but no financial resources, expects to rely on the strength of external powers to confront China, it is too naïve, as the so-called "no profit can not be early", people give you a platform to reap benefits, as a result, your navy and air force can not take advantage of it at all, and you also need to rely on the strength of other countries to fake the tiger, so it is no wonder that other countries look down on you! The United States finally sent an LCS midnight runway to Ren'ai Jiao to brush up on a wave of presence, while the so-called cruises of Japan, Australia and the Philippines did not dare to go to Ren'ai Jiao at all! Vietnam, on the other hand, has just received a visit from a high-ranking Chinese representative, and it has no time to deal with the Philippines.
As for Ren'ai Jiao, now that the Chinese coast guard has completely blocked Ren'ai Jiao, the Philippines can only report to the Chinese side in advance, stating clearly when and from the first country to send planes or ships, what materials to carry, when to arrive at Ren'ai Jiao, etc., and only after China's consent can the relevant materials be transported on board for supplies. And in order to prevent the Filipinos from doing bad things, any Philippine supply ship that goes to the broken ship must be inspected by the Chinese coast guard ship and can only be released if it passes the inspection! What does it mean to be "inspected"? It's okay to transport food and water to a ship, but it's absolutely not okay to transport building materials! This is China's "red line".
Some people may say that China's current strength is more than 10 times that of the Philippines, so why can't it just tow the broken ship with a tugboat? This issue is complicated, but the core is that we try to minimize the impact of Sino-Philippine friction on China's surrounding environment, so it is undoubtedly the best choice to use peaceful means to expel the Philippine military presence in the South China Sea, and to use natural degradation to let the sea slowly "digest" the Philippine shipwreck. In fact, don't underestimate the sea breeze and sea water, because the sea water is salty, so it is extremely corrosive. Not long ago, the Philippines sent supply ships many times to try to "break through" China's blockade line, also because they also knew that without the continuous reinforcement of building materials, the broken ship really could not last long.
However, for now, China's control over Ren'ai Jiao is not leaky, at least it can be said to be impregnable, because in addition to the coast guard ships carrying out blockade missions near Ren'ai Jiao, the PLA has deployed "China Aegis" destroyers, frigates and Type 022 missile boats on Mischief Island, which is only more than 30 kilometers away from Ren'ai Jiao.
Of course, the Philippines can boast internally that they have "broken" China's blockade, but the real balance of strength is there, as long as the Philippine side dares to trample on China's red line, then the Philippine navy and air force will be in danger of being wiped out at any time.