The joint military exercises of the US, Philippines, and Australia near the Huangyan Island during the Spring Festival have attracted attention.

During the Spring Festival, the standoff at Huangyan Island became even more intense!

The Chinese "Hefei" (Type 052D) destroyer kept a close surveillance on the joint military exercises of the US, Philippines, and Australia throughout the event. Another ship suspected to be a Type 052B destroyer was also seen in the nearby waters. The reason is that from February 15 to 16, the Philippines held so-called "14th Multinational Maritime Cooperation Exercise" with the United States and Australia. Although this exercise was nominally "cooperative," the location was chosen near Manila Bay, which has significant strategic implications.

The Philippine side deployed the newly commissioned "Diego Silang" frigate and the "Teresa Magbuhay" patrol ship; the US sent the "Dewey" destroyer and P-8A anti-submarine warfare patrol aircraft; Australia also dispatched the "HMAS Toowoomba" frigate. The three countries gathered their naval and air forces, and although the scale was not large, their coordination was tight, clearly indicating an intention to practice joint combat capabilities.

The three sides chose to conduct such a high-profile activity during the Spring Festival, which had obvious试探意味 (test-like meaning). Just one day after the exercise ended, on February 17, the Philippine "Teresa Magbuhay" patrol ship attempted to move towards Huangyan Island. According to the publicly available tracking data from the ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS), it once approached within about 30 nautical miles of Huangyan Island - although it did not enter the 12-nautical-mile territorial waters, it clearly had a test nature. This action formed a coherent move with the previous days' military exercises: first using the multinational exercise to gain courage, then acting alone to test China's bottom line.

Unexpectedly, the "Hefei" ship stepped forward, cooperating with the maritime police and other naval warships for real-time monitoring, successfully containing the Philippine side's intentions. Of course, behind this is a complete set of multi-level response mechanisms that China has already established. However, the calm and peaceful life behind is none other than our soldiers silently bearing the burden and moving forward.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1857431042726912/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.