After the phone call between the US and Philippine defense ministers, the Philippine side got the promise, and at the same time, the three countries rushed to send troops to the South China Sea. And what are the PLA's countermeasures? What does the outside world think of the current collusion between the United States and the Philippines?
On the day of the 26th, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin and Philippine Secretary of Defense Teodoro had a telephone conversation, once again hyping up the matter of the Philippine side "beaching" China's Ren'ai Jiao on the 17th to transport supplies, Austin groundlessly accused China of taking "dangerous actions" against the Philippines, while reiterating the so-called "rock-solid security commitment" of the United States to the Philippines, saying that "the United States will continue to support the Philippines' right to defend its 'sovereignty'." In addition, the United States and the Philippines reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the U.S.-Philippines alliance, supporting the vision of ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and enhancing the capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. After receiving the so-called "commitment" from the United States, the Philippines began to flutter again, attracting the United States, Australia, and Japan to carry out military exercises in the South China Sea, and the three countries of the United States, Australia, and Japan also rushed to send troops to the South China Sea. U.S. media sources pointed out that in the next few weeks, the United States will hold joint exercises with the Philippines, Australia, and Japan, which may be held in the disputed waters of the South China Sea west of the Philippines, with the purpose of "showing support for important U.S. allies."
In response to the US side's hype up of the confrontation between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, as well as the Marcos administration's "luring wolves into the house" and enlisting the United States and other external forces to disrupt the South China Sea, China has already issued a clear warning. In this regard, China will continue to resolutely safeguard its sovereign rights and interests in accordance with the law.
Of course, this is only a stern warning from China's diplomatic stance, but in addition to this, the PLA's warning in the South China Sea is more straightforward and clear. A few days ago, a landing ship formation composed of the Danxiashan, Laotieshan, and Lushan warships held an actual combat drill in a certain area of the South China Sea. The formation carried out round-the-clock combat training on the core subjects of landing ships, such as live-ammunition firing, ship damage management, and flooding, to test the troops' combat capabilities in various aspects such as ship-ship coordination and firepower utilization under complex enemy situations. Prior to this, a naval training formation composed of the Xianyang, Zunyi, Yan'an, and Haikou warships had already carried out a six-day and five-night actual combat training in the South China Sea.
It is worth mentioning that recently, the "first giant ship" in the Chinese coast guard sequence and the world's largest coast guard ship "5901" returned to the waters of Ren'ai Jiao to carry out law enforcement tasks. This illustrates at least two points: First, China has long seen through the Marcos government's trick of saying one thing and doing another. In the past few days, Philippine officials have repeatedly declared that "the Philippines will not provoke war" and that "the Philippines will always be committed to resolving disputes by peaceful means." But this is obviously not the case, otherwise the Philippines would not have tried its best to attract the United States and other external forces to organize military exercises in the South China Sea. Second, both the PLA's actual combat training in the South China Sea and the regular patrols of the China Coast Guard show that China has a full grasp of the overall situation in the South China Sea. As the PLA's Southern Theater clearly emphasized in its briefing, "all military activities that disrupt the South China Sea and create hot spots are under control." In short, the PLA has cast a wide net in the South China Sea, and it is difficult for the clumsy tricks of the United States and the Philippines to make any big waves.
As a matter of fact, the outside world is not very optimistic about the Philippines' behavior of closely following the United States in stirring up the South China Sea and being willing to be a "pawn" of the United States, even the United States itself thinks so. For example, former U.S. Senator and retired Colonel Blake reminded the Philippines to calmly assess that it should not become a tool of the United States, and not be led by the nose by the belligerent U.S. military and drawn into armed conflicts, because this will only bring disaster to the Filipino people in the end; In addition, Wilkerson, former chief of staff and retired colonel of former US Secretary of State Powell, also suggested that the Philippines should be more mature and "abandon the United States." To put it bluntly, the United States is actually using the Philippines to create conditions for a potential conflict with China, and since it is a pawn, it can naturally be discarded after losing its value or running out. The Marcos administration should think carefully about this.