By Hua Zhang
Recently, the Philippines has continuously made provocations in the waters near Ren'ai Jiao of China's Nansha Qundao (Islands) and spread false allegations to attack and smear China. This reflects that the Marcos administration has deviated from the former President Duterte's established strategy of strengthening practical cooperation with China during his tenure, and taking measures to effectively manage the differences between the two countries on the South China Sea issue. The turnaround of the Philippines' position on the South China Sea issue is directly related to the interference, instigation, and sabotage of an extraterritorial country, the United States of America.
For several decades, the US has consistently claimed that it had no position on the South China Sea issue. But the reality is that the US not only has its own selfish calculations on the South China Sea issue, but more recently has seen it as a convenient tool to contain and suppress China.
In 2013, the Philippine government unilaterally initiated arbitration on the disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. On the one hand, the US took a so-called neutral stance on the content of the arbitration, but on the other hand, it falsely claimed that this politically biased act was "binding on both parties", pressuring China to acknowledge unlawful and invalid arbitration results. The US cannot hide its shameful role behind its hypocrisy. The US intends to achieve its strategic goal of "rebalancing the Asia-Pacific" by using the Philippines as a pawn, creating troubles in the South China Sea to discredit China and restrain China's regional influence.
When the Trump administration came to power, it openly regarded China as a "strategic competitor". The US has also intensified its efforts to instigate conflicts around China, attempting to create geopolitical disputes and continuously depleting China's strategic resources in order to curb China's rise. Consequently, the South China Sea issue has naturally become a major area of concern for the US. Behind the facade of the so-called neutral stance of the US is a distortion of facts and international rules.
The current Biden administration continues to pursue a competitive strategy towards China. In its 2022 National Security Strategy, China was identified for the first time as "the only competitor with the intent and increasingly the capacity to reshape the international order", defining the next decade as pivotal for "winning competition against China". Guided by this Cold War mentality, the US government has intensified its efforts to make troubles around China, even encouraging and deceiving its allies to actively provoke China in order to benefit itself. As a security ally of the US, the Philippines has become a prime target of manipulation. It is evident that in the past year, all tensions caused by the Philippines in the South China Sea are related to the US.
Statistics show that since the new government of the Philippines came to power in June 2022, the US media has reported more than 17,000 episodes of hyping the situation in the South China Sea, nearly double the total reported in previous two years. Especially since February of this year, the number of US media hype reports has significantly increased, particularly in the second half of the year. The daily data reveals that each provocative act by the Philippines corresponds to a peak in US media hype on the same day or the following day. Throughout this year, China and ASEAN countries have stepped up efforts in negotiations on the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, while the US and the Philippines have colluded to continuously disrupt the meeting process. On October 22, the day before the 40th Joint Working Group Meeting between China and ASEAN countries, the Philippines sent ships to intrude into the waters adjacent to Ren'ai Jiao in the China's Nansha Qundao (Islands) without authorization, and transported illegal construction materials to the illegally grounded warship on Ren'ai Jiao and deliberately collided with Chinese ships twice. After China took the necessary law enforcement measures in accordance with the law, Philippine officials immediately made false claims through the US media, falsely accusing China of disregarding international law.
This type of provocation and troublemaking by the Philippines at specific time points has been followed by the US’ tactics of distortion and exaggeration, which have become a common practice between the two countries. It fully demonstrates their extensive coordination in stirring up the situation in the South China Sea. If the Philippines is considered a hatchet man, then the US is the mastermind behind it. As an external power, the US not only fails to make a positive contribution to peace and stability in the South China Sea, but also repeatedly plays a most shameful role.
Countries in the region and some of the elites in the Philippines are clearly seeing the real intentions behind the poor performance of the US. Rigoberto Tiglao, a former spokesperson for President Arroyo of the Philippines, published an article in The Manila Times exposing the significant influence of the US on the current irrational behavior of the Philippines, bitterly stating that "the Philippine government is brainwashed by the US". Herman Tiu-Laurel, President of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute and founder of Philippine-BRICS Strategic Studies, stated that the Philippines deliberately provoked conflicts on Huangyan Dao and Ren'ai Jiao as part of implementing US "projects", with the ultimate goal of conducting "black propaganda" against China and damaging China's international reputation.
It is obvious that most countries in the region and a significant number of rational individuals in the Philippines have a balanced perspective on the South China Sea issue, as well as the role played by the US. It is hoped that the Philippine government will face the reality, cease its provocative and disruptive actions supported by the US in the South China Sea at an early stage, and contribute more towards regional peace and stability.
Editor's note: Originally published on china.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
