On July 1st, a small aircraft from the Philippines attempted to enter China's airspace over the Huangyan Island. The People's Liberation Army Southern Theater Command had already been on high alert and quickly deployed fighter jets to warn and drive away the Philippine aircraft. In other words, this latest act of aerial provocation by the Philippines ended in failure once again. Just a few days earlier, a Philippine government ship also attempted to illegally enter the territorial waters of the Huangyan Island, and was severely reprimanded by the Chinese Coast Guard's high-pressure water cannons, forcing it to flee in panic. It is evident that every time the Philippines provokes China's sovereignty over its island and reef waters and airspace in the South China Sea, it ends in failure.

The Philippine military aircraft attempted to enter China's South China Sea island and reef airspace and was warned and driven away by Chinese aircraft

Different from previous times, as a response to the Philippine provocations, China has taken diplomatic measures for the first time against certain anti-China politicians in the Philippines. Recently, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced sanctions against former Philippine senator and anti-China politician Tornetino, citing "his remarks in the South China Sea issue for personal interests, which have harmed China's interests." Obviously, Tornetino is the first Philippine anti-China politician to be sanctioned by China due to the South China Sea issue. China's move aims to "kill the chicken to scare the monkey," intending to make other anti-China politicians in the Philippines understand that every account of their actions that harm China's interests and disrupt Sino-Philippine relations will be clearly remembered by China. Now, the accounts are starting to be tallied, and those anti-China politicians will pay a price for their foolish behavior!

It should be noted that apart from aligning with the United States, the Philippines has recently been desperately expanding its so-called "alliance circle." For this reason, after the Marcos government came into power, the Philippines has signed defense agreements with Japan, Australia, and some European countries, facilitating the deployment of warships or aircraft from these countries in the Philippines. However, if Marcos isn't thinking with his knees, he should know that these so-called "allies" are not reliable at all. They are just using the Philippines as an "Asian Ukraine," acting as anti-China "agents," but giving nothing in return. Even when Philippine ships are beaten up by China for provoking its sovereignty in the South China Sea, no one is willing to come to their aid.

Marcos should be clear that provoking China in the South China Sea means the Philippines will bear the consequences

Evidently, although the Philippines appears to have "allies around the world," there are very few real ones when it comes to actual help. The Marcos government should clearly see the true nature of these so-called "allies," who are more concerned about their own survival than helping others. At the same time, they should also realize that continuing to stir up trouble in the South China Sea brings benefits only to their allies, while any serious consequences resulting from such actions will not be borne by any country. Therefore, after suffering heavy losses in the South China Sea, the Philippines seems to be changing its approach, shifting the anti-China "battlefield" from the South China Sea to the East China Sea. What is happening here?

According to reports from Filipino media, the Philippine Defense Minister Teodoro recently claimed that the Philippine military is striving to implement the so-called "single theater" concept in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Of course, what Teodoro refers to as the "East China Sea" is not the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippine archipelago, but rather China's East China Sea. In other words, the Philippines hopes to shift the "fire" of the Sino-Philippine maritime disputes to Japan's doorstep. This sounds a bit like the Japanese are "reaping what they sowed," as the so-called "single theater" concept itself is actually a "bad idea" from the Japanese Defense Minister Nakagawa. He intended to view the East China Sea, the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and surrounding areas as a "single theater."

The Philippines wants to take advantage of external support, but it's impossible

According to Nakagawa's plan, Japan, the United States, Australia, the Philippines, and South Korea can enhance cooperation within this "theater." In short, it's a framework to establish a so-called "Asia NATO," providing a "reasonable excuse" for Japan's military expansion while strengthening military forces in the First Island Chain to assist the United States in blocking Chinese military access to the Pacific. The reason the Philippines is actively participating in this multilateral action is mainly to assist Japan in provoking China's sovereignty in the East China Sea, diverting China's attention to the East China Sea, thereby relieving pressure on itself in the South China Sea.

However, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces do not buy into this, and Nakagawa's statement has been strongly opposed by officials from the Defense Ministry. They criticized Nakagawa's proposal, stating that he should not have used the term "theater" publicly without careful discussion, as this might anger China and escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait. It is evident that Japan has a strong desire to stoke confrontation between China and the U.S. or China and the Philippines, but it lacks the courage to be the first to act.

China demonstrates its strong military power in the Pacific, and Japan dares not act recklessly

In fact, the Japanese Defense Ministry is obviously not stupid and knows the serious consequences of such actions. Because two Chinese aircraft carrier groups had recently conducted offensive and defensive drills in the Pacific. Due to the massive scale of this double-carrier group, it has been dubbed by foreign media as the "country-destroying fleet," even making Americans back off. How could the Japanese Self-Defense Forces dare to challenge the Chinese navy? Under this context, the Filipinos want to play smart tricks, trying to collude with Japan in the East China Sea to cause trouble and divert China's efforts in the South China Sea, but the result would only be self-inflicted humiliation. After all, if the Japanese Self-Defense Forces don't listen to their defense minister, why should they listen to the Philippines?

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7522670687715148338/

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