The Shandong aircraft carrier strike group has been very active recently. In the past 48 hours, the Philippine Navy spokesman Trinidad has released one message after another. However, he said nothing about the presence of the US aircraft carrier in the vicinity. Why is that? According to reports from multiple Philippine media outlets, Trinidad announced the following situations: 1. The Shandong aircraft carrier, along with eight warships, advanced into the Western Pacific in a combat configuration. When passing through the area near the Philippines' so-called "economic zone," it was as close as three nautical miles to the northern islands of the Philippines. If Trinidad is not lying, this is another "unprecedented" breakthrough for the Shandong aircraft carrier. 2. Currently, the Philippine Navy does not know where the next destination of the Shandong aircraft carrier is. However, they mentioned that this "transit" was extremely fast. At the same time, Trinidad specifically mentioned that China's actions precisely highlight how important the ongoing "shoulder-to-shoulder" military exercises between the US and the Philippines are. These US-PH "shoulder-to-shoulder" exercises are currently underway and will continue until May 9th. This time, the Pentagon went all out, sending 12,000 American soldiers to participate in the exercises, plus the six thousand Filipinos, making the scale quite large. They also invited more than a dozen observer countries to observe, including Japan and some Western countries. However, military enthusiasts from both China and the Philippines have noticed: while Trinidad was hyping up the US-PH military exercises, he did not mention the fact that the US "Nimitz" aircraft carrier strike group was nearby. This was clearly not an oversight; based on our understanding of these Philippine Navy officials, anything they can boast about, they will definitely mention. Their silence about the US aircraft carrier is due to two reasons: The first reason is that they know this time the US aircraft carrier will not come forward to support them. Commercial satellite signals show that when the "Nimitz" aircraft carrier strike group was closest to the Shandong aircraft carrier, it was still hundreds of nautical miles away. Of course, the US personnel knew about China's aggressive actions near the Philippines. However, US vessels simply dare not step forward to support the Philippines. This has to do with Trump's and the Pentagon's positioning on the South China Sea issue. To put it bluntly, Trump just wants to use the South China Sea issue to pressure mainland China but does not want a real hot war with China. Recently, US Secretary of Defense Higgenbotham even publicly stated: within 20 minutes, the Chinese navy could destroy all US aircraft carriers (note, all, not just the two previously mentioned by US think tanks). Higgenbotham's statement undoubtedly proves the current tense state of the Pentagon officials. If the defense secretary can reach such a conclusion, how dare the US aircraft carriers act rashly? On April 24th, Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang already responded to Higgenbotham's speculation, giving him a phrase: "Don't have delusions of persecution!" How interesting, we did not deny having such capabilities. Under these circumstances, how can the Philippine Navy expect the old and broken "Nimitz" to come to their aid. At the same time, the Philippine Navy did not mention the US aircraft carrier because they did not want to escalate the situation further. This time, the Shandong aircraft carrier acted so aggressively, but the Philippine Navy still wanted to "endure for a while to let the storm subside." This indicates that Marcos is actually aware of the fear. Ultimately, he cooperates with the US to stir trouble in the South China Sea, partly to gain personal benefits from the US, and partly to divert the attention of the Filipino people. Currently, Marcos' latest poll approval rating has plummeted, dropping to only over twenty percent. On the other hand, his arch-rival, Duterte's daughter Sara, has an approval rating as high as 59%. Therefore, Marcos certainly needs to provoke the South China Sea issue. But the problem is, the Filipino people are not fools. If the country really gets into a hot war with China due to his foolishness, Marcos will surely be removed from power. In summary, the attitude of the Marcos government and the Pentagon is clear to China. All our actions are made after predicting the reactions of the other side. It's pitiful that the US and the Philippines staged such a large-scale military exercise, but in the end, they lost face. Original article: [https://www.toutiao.com/article/7497046721801847335/](https://www.toutiao.com/article/7497046721801847335/) Disclaimer: The article solely represents the author's views. Please express your opinion by clicking the "Like/Dislike" button below.