Last week, China officially announced the establishment of a nature reserve on the island, with a total area of more than 3,000 hectares, mainly protecting the island's coral reef ecosystem.
This action by China is entirely within its own sovereign jurisdiction, and it exercises its legal rights normally. For the Philippines, this is perfectly sunny.
(Chinese coast guard vessels used water cannons to drive away)
Once the protection zone is established, it means that the Chinese maritime police will be more grounded in the future law enforcement actions in the relevant waters, such as the previously illegally fished Philippine fishermen can only be deported, now it can take stronger law enforcement measures on them, including check-in, seizure of ships and even criminal investigation, according to Chinese domestic regulations, and the Philippines has lost the operating space of the grey zone.
The Philippines naturally disagrees with this. Their first step was to seek help from outside forces.The United States and Europe are also very cooperative, and support the Philippines in succession.But for the Chinese side, these so-called voices of opposition are completely lacking in the basis of international law, and are more based on geopolitical stands, so there is no deterrence.
In this situation, The Philippines launched the second step, that is, to confront China head-on and go to Huangyan Island to stage the "island seizure operation".
On the morning of the 16th, China's maritime police suddenly said that they had taken regulatory measures in accordance with the law on several Philippine official vessels who had breached the island.
Although the Chinese side has not yet specified the situation, some details of the confrontation between China and the Philippines can also be seen clearly from the latest AIS track map.
It can be clearly seen from the map that the Philippines came prepared this time. They collected about six ships from Manila Port and Subic Bay Port. These ships didn't dare to rush directly. They secretly gathered in the waters east of Huangyan Island. As if they had agreed, they were divided into three teams: east, south and north. They planned to outflank them from three directions and break through the defense line while the Chinese side was not paying attention. To put it bluntly, I just want to engage in a little trick of "seizing the island".
But the Chinese side has long understood their thoughts and laid out the situation in advance. At that time, there were six Chinese coast guard ships guarding around Huangyan Island, two of which were temporarily transferred from the nearby waters for support, which just blocked the key passages. What's more interesting is that Chinese fishing boats operating nearby also took the initiative to help. Dozens of fishing boats cooperated with marine police boats, like a "sea wall", to block all the roads of Philippine boats. As a result, no matter which direction the Philippine ships rushed from, they were firmly stopped by the Chinese side, and even the core waters of Huangyan Island were not touched.
Map of AIS
After being stopped by the Chinese side, the Philippines did not leave there. The track map showed that the ships of the two countries were densely packed, and the routes also overlapped and formed a ball. It was difficult to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy. This also proved that the confrontation was extremely fierce at that time, and China and the Philippines carried out a lot of maneuvers and chasing blocks.
Subsequently, my country's coast guard announced the latest developments. During this period, the Philippine side deliberately collided with the Chinese coast guard ship. The responsibility for the collision lies entirely with the Philippines, so China has taken control measures such as water cannon spraying.
In other words, the philippines who wanted to realize the "occupation of the island", not only failed to break through the first blockade of China, but also directly poured into the Chinese water cannon. Although this has been considered the largest scale of action since the philippines' provocation to China, but the end is still defeated. It also seems to be too embarrassing, as of now, the philippines have no media to report on this.
As far as the Philippine side is concerned, the reason why this happened is, On the one hand, it lacks a reasonable assessment of its own strength, and on the other hand, it lacks an accurate assessment of China's strength.
Looking at the maritime enforcement forces of the two sides, the gap is not at all half a point.China's naval police fleet is the largest in the world, there are dozens of thousands of tons of law enforcement ships, and several thousands of tons of giant ships, these ships are not only large, but also equipped with advanced equipment, in addition to the power of sufficient water cannons, and sound wave displacement devices, some ships are even built according to military standards, collision resistance and durability are super strong, even if you are at sea for half a month, do not have to fear not enough supplies.
Look at the Philippine official vessels, mostly several hundred tons of small patrol boats, some vessels have been used for ten years, the body of the ship is small defects, equipment is not old, let's not say that the thousand tons of Chinese vessels, even against the thousand tons of Chinese vessels, has no hand at all, is facing resistance is to stone.
Secondly, the military support behind the two countries is not at all on the same scale.China has a perfect military deployment in the South China Sea region, such as island reef airports, missile systems, naval bases, etc., once the situation is escalated, the Chinese navy and air force can quickly provide support. But the Philippines? independent operation can not fight China, only rely on external allies. The United States although signed a common defense treaty with the Philippines, but also clearly stated not to intervene in sovereignty disputes, promised only to trigger common defense when the Philippines is attacked, and this official ship conflict, also belongs to the law enforcement, so the Philippines can only swallow the belly.
(Marcos Jr.)
More importantly, in these years, the Philippines has been continuously provoking, and the Chinese side has also gained a wealth of control experience in the response.Now in the waters of Yunnan Island, the Chinese naval police ships are patrolling every day, and normalized control has long been achieved, no matter what the Philippines wants to trick, whether it is to divide routes, steal around, or to find civilian boats and fish, there is no way to break through the Chinese defense line, every time it is a bamboo basket.
In fact, the Philippine side's abacus is very clear: it just wants to do something deliberately to make international countries pay attention to the South China Sea issue and turn it into an "international incident". At that time, someone will help itself put pressure on China. But reality hit them in the face hard. This kind of provocation can't change the fact that "Huangyan Island is China's inherent territory and is now actually controlled by China". Instead, it makes everyone see clearly how passive the Philippines is: it has no strength, and it can't rely on others, so it can only rely on this way to attract attention.
Through this legal law enforcement action, the Chinese side has explained the ins and outs of the matter clearly. Not only can the domestic people see it clearly, but the international community also knows that the Philippines picked things first. China is only safeguarding its own rights and interests, and China has firmly grasped the right to speak. Next, even if the Philippine side wants to fight against it, no one will believe it.