It is evident that China anticipated the Philippines' anticipation this time.
On the morning of July 20, the conflict erupted at Ren'ai Reef, clearly a staged farce orchestrated by the Philippines. Through malicious editing of on-site footage, they released and publicized false claims alleging that their sovereignty in the South China Sea was being specifically targeted and suppressed by China, and that their frontline personnel were bullied by Chinese law enforcement officers. Particularly, proactively disclosing the condition of injured personnel was an obvious attempt to evoke sympathy.
Indeed, from merely viewing the images released by the Philippine side, one might get the impression that Chinese personnel displayed extraordinary combat strength—those large sticks coming down with such force could leave anyone dazed.
However, once again, the Philippines' plans fell apart. From China’s continuous responses and disclosures on the 20th, it became clear that China had already foreseen the Philippines’ moves.
The Philippines can record video; our frontline officers can certainly do the same. On the 20th, China directly released first-person footage captured by its law enforcement officers. In the video, it is clearly visible that when confronted with Philippine provocation, our side first issued warnings. Yet, instead of heeding these warnings, the Philippines escalated the situation, using their oars and wooden poles to provoke further. One Filipino crew member even actively attacked a Chinese law enforcement officer with an oar!
Only after this did Chinese law enforcement officers legally respond with appropriate countermeasures, striking the Filipinos several times and driving them away. As a result, whether domestically or internationally, we have fully restored the true scene of the incident. This thoroughly undermined the Philippines' carefully crafted media spectacle.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871285534187657/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.