According to a report by Guangming Network on February 20, citing information released by the Southern Theater, on February 19, the Philippines enlisted foreign countries to stir up the South China Sea, organized so-called "joint air patrols" and publicly hyped up, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army Southern Theater organized front-line naval and air forces to closely monitor the situation. The theater troops maintain a high degree of vigilance, resolutely defend national sovereignty, security and maritime rights and interests, and resolutely safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea. It has to be said that although the PLA's announcement in the Southern Theater is only two sentences, there is undoubtedly more information hidden behind it, that is, the Philippines' ambition to seek illegal sovereignty in the South China Sea is becoming more and more obvious, and the PLA's sentence of "the situation is under control" is enough to show that China will never make concessions in safeguarding its sovereignty in the South China Sea, let alone give the Philippines a chance to exploit loopholes.
As for the countries outside the region that the Philippines has wooed this time, although in order to stabilize the current fundamentals of peace and stability in the South China Sea, the Southern Theater has not named them this time, it is not difficult to imagine that there is a high probability that one or more of the countries participating in the joint patrol in the South China Sea will be the United States, Japan, and Australia. You must know that as early as March last year, some Philippine media disclosed that the Philippines, the United States, Japan and Australia discussed the possibility of joint patrols in the South China Sea, and relevant guidelines were being formulated. In November last year, the United States and the Philippines held their first joint patrol in the South China Sea since 2016, followed by similar patrols by the Philippines and Australia, and then in December, Japan handed over a long-range surveillance radar to the Philippines.
It is worth noting that on the 9th of this month, that is, on Chinese New Year's Eve, the United States and the Philippines conducted their third joint patrol in recent times. As a matter of fact, according to information released by the Central Broadcasting Force, a number of ships of a certain landing ship detachment of the navy in the southern theater recently formed a formation and rushed to several sea areas to carry out actual combat sea training. We have noted that the contents of the drills, such as horizontal liquid cargo replenishment, damage control, and take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft, are aimed at improving the emergency response capabilities of PLA officers and men, not only from the perspective of actual combat, but also to counter foreign forces causing trouble in the South China Sea. It should be pointed out that, judging from the recent series of actions in the southern theater, the Philippines does not want to let its conspiracy in the South China Sea succeed! What is even more surprising to the outside world is that in less than five days, the Philippines has made 4 consecutive moves, and the fourth move is this joint patrol, and the first 3 moves can obviously be seen as finding a suitable reason for this joint patrol.
Specifically, on February 15, the Philippines first trespassed the waters near Scarborough Shoal through its own Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources 3005 boat, only to be forcibly driven away by the Chinese Coast Guard, and on the same day, the Philippine Congress also passed an amendment to try to legislate to declare its sovereignty over disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea, and on the 17th, the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources publicly fabricated false information. Accusing Chinese fishermen of destroying the traditional fishing grounds of Filipino fishermen through the long-term use of cyanide in the waters related to Scarborough Shoal. In January this year, some Philippine media revealed that the Philippine authorities were preparing to sue China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands, on the grounds of so-called "destructive environmental activities".
It is foreseeable that slanders and accusations without evidence, as well as unreasonable "sovereignty claims", will eventually degenerate into a farce, and compared with China's justified and reasonable and lawful measures to deal with the sovereignty issue in the South China Sea, such despicable practices will only continue to tarnish its credibility and image in front of the international community. All in all, the above-mentioned four tactics, such as island invasion, amendment, environmental damage and joint patrol, are undoubtedly the product of the Philippines' attempt to increase its power and promote the secretly brewing action to seize the island. However, the actions in the southern theater of operations directly made the Philippines face the cruel reality that it belongs to China's sovereignty, and no one wants to take it away!
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