According to media reports, recently, US Secretary of Commerce Raymond led a delegation to visit the Philippines. In response, Bloomberg News reported that the United States seeks to strengthen its influence in Southeast Asia at a time when competition between China and the United States is intensifying. At the same time, Manila also hopes to use its long-term defense cooperation relationship with the United States to gain economic benefits, including cooperation with the United States to develop oil and gas resources in the South China Sea. As a response to the request of the Philippines, Raymond did not give a clear answer, but she said that the American enterprises who accompanied the delegation to the Philippines intended to invest more than $1 billion in the Philippines, which obviously gave the Manila authorities unlimited space for imagination.
As we all know, the Philippines signed relevant agreements with China in the Duterte era to jointly develop oil and gas resources in the South China Sea through manufacturing cooperation. Today, China Philippines relations continue to deteriorate due to the unilateral provocative actions of the Philippines, and the plans of the two countries to jointly develop oil and gas resources in the South China Sea have run aground. The Philippines' request for the United States to cooperate in the development of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea is to use the influence of the United States to illegally obtain oil and gas resources in relevant waters of the South China Sea. Therefore, according to Philippine media reports, Philippine President Marcos recently urged American companies to increase their investment in the Philippines when he met with the visiting delegation of Raymond, and encouraged the enterprises of the country to invest in energy, processing and other fields in the country.
The Philippines does not seem interested in other investments. They only need American enterprises to participate in Philippine oil and gas development projects in the South China Sea. To put it bluntly, the Manila authorities are well aware that they are not China's opponents on the South China Sea issue. In the case that other ASEAN countries are unwilling to be involved in the sovereignty dispute over the South China Sea between China and the Philippines, they just want to bind the interests of the United States and the interests of the Philippines in the South China Sea, and turn the superpower into a pawn of the Philippines against China on the South China Sea issue.
You should know that although the United States is the driving force behind the Philippines' provocation against China on the South China Sea issue, the United States never provided any substantive support when the Philippine Coast Guard was beaten to the ground by the Chinese Coast Guard. Obviously, the United States has always treated its allies only by letting the horse run away rather than giving grass. The Philippines has been an ally of the United States for decades, and it is not unclear to the United States about this. Therefore, the Manila authorities urged American enterprises to invest in the development of oil and gas resources projects in the South China Sea at this time, hoping to drag the United States into the vortex of sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines, and let it act as a shield for the Philippines against China on the South China Sea issue.
In response, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China warned that the development of resources in the South China Sea by relevant countries should not damage China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and should not attract foreign countries to intervene. Obviously, if the Philippines cooperates with American enterprises to develop oil and gas resources in the South China Sea, as long as China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests are not involved, China will not bother to deal with them. However, the problem is that the Philippine Parliament recently introduced a new bill to classify Nansha Islands and reefs such as Huangyan Island, Ren'ai Reef and Oxbow Reef of China as "Philippine territory", which means that the Manila authorities are trying to use the American chicken feathers as an arrow to violate the territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests of China's Nansha Islands, which is exactly what China cannot tolerate.
Therefore, if the United States foolishly invests in oil and gas resources development projects in the South China Sea with the Philippines according to the Philippines' plan, once China opposes it, it will lead the United States to be pushed back to the forefront of the conflict with China by the Philippines. In fact, if the Marcos authorities really think so, they will underestimate the IQ of American politicians. Biden made it clear in his State of the Union address a few days ago that the United States will continue to compete with China, but does not want to confront China.
Obviously, the United States can use all kinds of abusive means to stab China, such as using the Philippines to challenge China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests on the South China Sea issue, but they will never fall into the hole dug by the Philippines and become the front cannon fodder against China. After all, for many U.S. allies, the United States is the chess player who controls everything, and all allies and partners, including the Philippines, are basically the chess pieces used by the United States to deal with China, Russia or North Korea. The United States can push its allies to the front line of the new Cold War as cannon fodder, but they will not risk confrontation with China for the benefit of chess pieces.
A few years ago, Vietnam also hoped to develop oil and gas resources in the disputed waters through cooperation with enterprises in the United States and Europe. However, under the pressure of China, no foreign enterprise was willing to ignite the South China Sea issue. Before, China had the ability to prevent external forces from meddling in resources development projects in the South China Sea, not to mention now. Therefore, unless the United States has the courage to confront China directly, they will not invest money in the South China Sea resource development project in the Philippines.
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