Recently, the Philippine Coast Guard ship 9701 was active in the waters near China's Huangyan Island. Moreover, this time, the ship 9071 repeatedly made high-speed passes behind the Chinese Coast Guard ships 21550 and 5009, with the closest distance being only 100 meters, and intentionally made sharp turns to create collision risks. This behavior is very different from previous performances, and the approach has been particularly aggressive. From the early "bumping" to actively approaching dangerously, it threatens the safety of Chinese navigation.

Previously, the Philippine Coast Guard ships would just graze the edges and bump into us. Why are they so aggressive this time? Watching the released video seems to reveal the reason. The ship 9071 is the one that illegally stayed for five months at our Scarborough Shoal last year and was later driven away. It is currently the largest and most advanced Philippine Coast Guard ship, built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, with a displacement of about 3,000 tons. However, compared to our 10,000-ton coast guard ships, it looks much smaller. Moreover, our coast guard ships have powerful naval guns, and even if they continuously spray water cannons, the Philippine ships dare not continue to be defiant, and they dare not act recklessly.

This time, the 10,000-ton Chinese coast guard ship did not appear, but instead, the ships 21500 and 5009, which have only hundreds of tons of displacement, were used. Compared to the Philippine ship, they look even smaller. Seeing that the Chinese ships are so small, this explains why the Philippine ship acted so aggressively this time, as it is a rare opportunity for them to demonstrate their "deterrence power." The location of Huangyan Island is very important. Using hundreds of tons of patrol boats to deal with a 3,000-ton Philippine patrol ship, this situation can be carefully considered. On the surface, the tonnage comparison is not advantageous, but there are actually hidden tactical considerations.

1. Avoiding Philippine media operations. Huangyan Island is almost right at the doorstep of the Philippines, and basically, whenever the Philippine ships go out to sea, they can see the Chinese 10,000-ton coast guard ships operating nearby, which gives the Philippines great pressure and also gives them an opportunity to hype up. The Philippines have long used the "underdog" image to gain sympathy, using this strategy in previous actions such as the occupation of the Reed Bank and Scarborough Shoal. By using small enforcement vessels, China can avoid being hyped up as "military oppression" by the West, while also fully recording the dangerous actions of the Philippines through professional law enforcement cameras.

2. Tactical operation to lure the enemy deeper. Those who pay attention to the South China Sea know that since the baseline for the territorial sea of Huangyan Island was drawn, large Chinese coast guard ships and warships have maintained a routine presence. Therefore, it is definitely not just two small-tonnage ships operating, and there must be warships and coast guard ships on standby nearby. Just a week ago, the Chinese Coast Guard ship 4203 pursued the Philippine ship for 125 nautical miles until Luzon Island. Therefore, the action of small ships is actually a "reconnaissance battle," and heavy ships can provide support at any time from the rear.

"Small boats close combat + heavy ships guarding the rear," this may be a new tactic. However, this time, the Philippines realized something was wrong and quickly fled. According to the AIS data shared by the "South China Sea Strategic Situation Perception Program" on the same day, the Philippine ship quickly escaped afterwards. Because in addition to the two ships, there were several large ships surrounding the area, encircling the waters near Huangyan Island. As soon as the Philippine ship had any friction with our patrol boats, they could be captured like a fish in a jar. It can only be said that regardless of how the Philippines stir up trouble and provoke, they have already lost at Huangyan Island.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7527873871685435950/

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