Recently, the Philippines for 3 days in a row of aircraft and ships, attempting to enter the sea airspace near China's Yellow Island, and inside and outside the Nika Lake filmed the suspected float and steel structure facilities, quickly spoke to the outside world, fearing that this may be a sign of China's "filled island".
In response to such a provocative act, our country immediately launched a strong counterattack. Navy Z-9 helicopters, Air Force Su-35 fighter jets, many warships and Coast Guard ships took off to sea almost simultaneously, driving the Philippines away from the entire process. Immediately afterwards, China issued a rare global navigation warning, and this time China will not be used to it.
According to the Philippine media ABC-CBN disclosed, since last week, the Philippine Navy and Air Force have repeatedly sent naval aircraft near Yellowstone Island, attempting to enter the airspace reconnaissance near Laguna Lake, in their lenses, a new set of floats and parts of steel-shaped structures appeared, Manila said, these signs may mean that China is preparing for "engineering activities".
This judgment was rapidly amplified in local media, forming the public opinion atmosphere of so-called "China is preparing for a new round of expansion".
However, such a judgment has almost no factual support in the military. The waters of Huangyan Island originally belong to our country, and patrolling, laying buoys and repairing reefs are all routine maintenance. However, the Philippine side chose to make a high-profile dispatch at this time, which is more regarded by the outside world as a "political act"-intended to show its "sovereign posture" on the South China Sea issue to the country and at the same time send a signal to external allies.
Our military responded in a very short period of time. The naval and aircraft forces in the southern theater were quickly mobilized. The Z-9 carrier-based helicopter followed and alerted at low altitude. The Air Force Su-35 fighter jets cruised and suppressed at high altitude. Several Type 054A frigates and 052D destroyers formed a sandwiched situation in the surrounding waters. For the Philippine ships and aircraft, this oppression was almost "seamless"-regardless of altitude, heading or communication frequency band, China firmly grasped.
In an interview with Philippine media, an officer and soldier of the Philippine Air Force said that within three days, their patrol aircraft tried to enter the 12 nautical miles of Huangyan Island at least three times, but each time they were intercepted by Chinese fighter planes, and even once there was a close intersection of less than 3 kilometers. "The reaction was so quick that we had no room to stay," the officer said.
At the same time, the naval ships sent by the Philippines were repeatedly warned to drive away, and the communication channel directly issued a verbal notice of "leaving the sea area immediately". In the end, all Philippine ships and aircraft were forced to withdraw.
After the confrontation, the Chinese Maritime Administration issued a global navigation warning, announcing "military activities" in the marine airspace near Yunnan Island, demanding that all naval aircraft be banned, so that official navigation announcement is extremely rare, in the past few years, China has occasionally made similar announcements in the direction of Nansha and Sissa, but in Yunnan Island clearly issued a military banned zone warning, is the first time.
Through the form of announcement, China has transformed the regional defense originally focused on military response into institutionalized management, which not only shows control capabilities, but also reduces the risk of misjudgment. Moreover, this is a kind of "limited deterrence". The announcement does not explain the scale of the exercise nor disclose the duration. This ambiguity itself is a strategic signal, which makes the outside world know that military activities in the direction of Huangyan Island will enter normalization, but it does not mean that they will immediately escalate to confrontation.
Interestingly, the Manila authorities unexpectedly kept a rare silence in response to China's warning. Neither President Marcos himself, nor the Ministry of National Defense nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have issued an official statement to the outside world. Compared with the previous attitude of frequently summoning Chinese diplomats and holding press conferences on issues such as Renai Reef and Huangyan Island, this "silence" seems particularly abrupt.
But the reason is simple – the military comparison in the waters around Yellow Island is completely unbalanced, the Philippines has just received a new type of missile escort ship from South Korea, and is referred to by the media as a “flag-flag asset”, but when faced with China’s 052D destroyer and 054A escort ship, there is almost no comparison – firepower, radar, and anti-attack capabilities are at completely different levels.
More importantly, the Philippine Air Force lacks high-performance fighters, whose main force is still the FA-50 light attack aircraft, which cannot effectively intercept or interfere when facing the joint cruise of the Su-35 and the J-16. Under this reality pressure, Manila's choice can only be a surrender. Philippine domestic analysts say: "This is not a diplomatic question, but a question of capabilities."