After the confrontation at Ren'ai Jiao in the South China Sea, the Chinese coast guard won a resounding victory, and the Philippines changed its attitude towards China, saying that it did not want to provoke a war. Seeing this, the United States urgently threw three punches, trying to do Marcos Jr. a "disservice".
A few days ago, after the fiasco at Ren'ai Jiao, the Philippine domestic from the president to the people have made a 180-degree turn, especially Marcos Jr. publicly stated that he has no intention of provoking war in the South China Sea, and the Philippine Foreign Ministry also hopes to return to the negotiating table with China when the situation in the South China Sea continues to be tense. This change in attitude is in sharp contrast to the previous arrogance of being aggressive, holding the support of the United States, and even not hesitating to fight with China, and it also shows that the Philippines is seriously shrinking its courage to provoke China after tasting the bitter pain. Seeing this situation, the United States could not sit still and urgently threw three punches to save the scene, trying to reassure the Philippines, but unexpectedly it actually wanted to do Marcos Jr. a "disservice".
First, when the Philippine Foreign Minister wanted to start negotiations with China on the South China Sea issue, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had a telephone conversation with Philippine Secretary of Defense Teodoro, reaffirming the US security commitment to the Philippines and supporting the Philippines in defending its sovereignty in the South China Sea. The Philippines must be tired of hearing this rhetoric, and the so-called rock-solid support of the United States is only a rhetoric in the end. As I said earlier, it seems that if the Filipinos are injured even a single hair, the United States will support the Philippines in accordance with the "Mutual Defense Treaty", but what is the result? In the face of China's coast guard's vigorous law enforcement, the United States did not even see a figure, leaving the Philippines to bear everything alone.
Perhaps aware of this problem, the United States changed its strategy and immediately threw two more punches. One is that the US Marine Corps announced in a recent press release that the US military successfully test-fired a new anti-ship missile during an exercise in the Philippine Sea, sinking a target ship. The other is the first bilateral exercise between the United States and the Philippines when four U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II joint strike fighters dropped seven GBU-32 guided bombs on floating targets off the coast of West Luzon in the South China Sea.
In my opinion, these two waves of muscles flexed by the US military are nothing more than an attempt to show military strength to appease the wounded psychology of the Philippines. After all, the United States always likes to make empty promises and not honor them, just like this Ren'ai Jiao friction, the United States is only hiding behind the scenes, only talking to the Philippines, but not taking any actual action. I think it's reluctant that the child can't trap the wolf, and the attitude of the Philippines has changed after suffering a loss, and it is not so easy to deceive. That's why the US military is testing new anti-ship missiles around the Philippines and dispatching F-35 fighters to conduct live-fire exercises. After these two waves of operation, to put it bluntly, they are telling the Philippines that the United States has the ability to support the Philippines to the end, so that they can only boldly confront China.
On the flip side, however, if Marcos Jr. intends to do more, including negotiations with China, to resolve the South China Sea issue. There is no doubt that the three punches thrown by the United States at this time are doing the "opposite", because the "protective umbrella" provided by the United States will greatly reduce the possibility of China and the Philippines seeking a peaceful solution to the South China Sea issue. Next, it is up to the Philippines to make the right choice between supporting the U.S. provocation and communicating with China, acting in its own self-interest.