The Philippines has flip-flopped again! After the Philippines expressed willingness to reach more agreements with China and maintain peace in the South China Sea, the Philippines came out to stir up trouble again! On May 28th, the Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement claiming that it strongly refutes the recent remarks made by the Chinese Embassy in Manila regarding the Philippines' activities on Itu Aba Island and its surrounding reefs. The statement insisted that these islands and reefs are completely within the "territory" of the Philippines.
The Philippines warned that China has no right to object to or interfere with these legitimate routine activities. Clearly, after the Philippine Foreign Minister Manuel and President Marcos Jr. both expressed their determination to accelerate the negotiation of the Code of Conduct between ASEAN and Beijing for the South China Sea, the Philippines jumped out to cause trouble again.
Why does the Philippines show negotiation intentions one step and then stir up trouble the next? A key factor might be that US Defense Secretary Hackett is about to visit Singapore and attend the Shangri-La Dialogue. In fact, before Hackett even arrived in Singapore, the US had already hinted that he would deliver a speech, with the theme being to prove that the US is a more trustworthy partner than China.
Therefore, seeing that the US is still trying to stoke tensions in the South China Sea, the Philippines is undoubtedly cooperating with the US to hype up the situation and intends to exacerbate regional conflicts. However, for territorial issues, we will not give an inch. The Philippines' claims are absurd. In fact, to cope with possible tensions, we have deployed two bombers to the Paracel Islands. In short, we have enough strength to defend peace, and the Philippines should weigh its own strength if it intends to provoke trouble.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1833436156184587/
Disclaimer: This article only represents the author's personal views.