Philippine south China sea joke

1982, the countries of the United Nations reached a consensus and unanimously passed the law of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which stipulated the specific requirements for maritime territorial division of countries, especially the related sovereignty requirements for islands.

According to the Convention Law, an island sovereign state can have a territorial sea around the island of 12 nautical mile, a contiguous zone of 12 nautical mile and an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles. After this bill was promulgated and implemented in 1994, countries around Nansha Islands in China began to try their best to compete with China for ownership of Nansha Islands.

Countries claiming sovereignty over the Nansha Islands in China include Viet Nam, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries, among which the Philippines sent warships to occupy Ren'ai Reef and stayed in Ren'ai Reef for more than 20 years. How is this warship now, and how are the Filipino crew on it?

All the islands in the territorial waters of China to the south and southeast of Hainan Island in China are collectively referred to as the South China Sea Islands. According to their distribution, the South China Sea Islands can be divided into dongsha islands, zhongsha islands, Xisha Islands and Nansha Islands.

The South China Sea Islands and their adjacent waters have been China's territory since ancient times. However, when Britain opened the door to China under the Qing government with opium in 1840, the territory of China began to be incomplete and became the object of western powers' partition.

This debate lasted for nearly a hundred years. With the growing strength of New China, many islands once occupied by invaders were slowly recovered.

China's foreign policy is to safeguard world peace, promote common development and adhere to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which is China's goodwill to other countries. However, some countries, such as the Philippines, took advantage of China's goodwill and acted as hooligans.

199 1 After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the United States became the only superpower in the world. Without restraint, the United States began to fiddle with the world pattern.

1In March 1999, NATO led by the United States proposed to the United Nations to launch a military strike against Yugoslavia, which was rejected by the United Nations, including China.

However, NATO selectively ignored the United Nations resolutions and began a 78-day military bombing of Yugoslavia on March 24th.

After the explosion, the China administration made a severe condemnation and strong protest against NATO. Just as the two sides were negotiating, the Philippines quietly dispatched an "old" ship to Ren'ai Reef, Nansha Islands, China on May 9 at the behest of the United States.

After the promulgation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Philippines has been coveting Ren'ai Reef. When it was distracted by the negotiations between China and NATO, it took action against Ren'ai Reef. They boarded the Ren'ai Reef on the grounds that the cabin was damaged.

The Philippine side thought that no one was interested in this operation, but in fact their strange behavior had already been discovered by China fishermen near Ren'ai Reef and reported to the relevant departments of China Customs.

Subsequently, China conducted a secret investigation on the ship and found that the crew on board were all strong young people and equipped with standard weapons. This shabby-looking ship is actually disguised as a warship.

This warship is also famous. It used to be the 542-class tank landing ship "Mount Madre" of the US Navy during World War II.

The "Madre Mountain" was commissioned in 1944, and 1976 was handed over to the Philippines by the United States. It is obviously unkind for the Philippines to dock this warship near Ren'ai Reef, China.

When the story was exposed, the Philippines lied to the Chinese side that the "Madre" was docked near Ren'ai Reef due to hull failure and would leave Ren'ai Reef after the ship was repaired.

At this time, China was too busy negotiating with NATO to take care of the Philippines, so after the Philippines showed its attitude, it did not take military measures. Unexpectedly, the Philippines stopped Ren'ai Reef's "Madre" which lasted for more than 20 years.

Ren'ai Reef is an island in Nansha Islands of China, which belongs to Sansha City, Hainan Province. Its geographical location is within the range of 9 degrees 39-48 minutes north latitude and 1 15 degrees 5 1-54 minutes east longitude.

Ren'ai Reef is an atoll with an area of about 5 1 km2 including water. There are rich and diverse fish resources around Ren'ai Reef, which is one of the main fishing places for fishermen in China.

In addition, Ren'ai Reef has very important strategic value. 33 kilometers west of Ren'ai Reef, it is the largest island in Nansha Islands of China.

Ritual Beach is located between Meiji Island and Ren'ai Reef, with oil reserves exceeding 5 billion tons, which is a very important strategic resource.

Meiji Island is an important station to protect the rights and interests of the South China Sea. There are hospitals, airports, factories and other facilities on the island, which is a very important supply point for China Navy. Ren'ai Reef is the natural barrier of Meiji Island, and protecting Ren'ai Reef means protecting Meiji Island.

However, Ren'ai Reef is about 800 kilometers away from Hainan Province and only 200 kilometers away from the Philippines. Rich mineral resources and close geographical location made the Philippines try to get their hands on Ren'ai Reef, which led to the grounding of the "Madre Mountain".

By the end of 1999, the service life of the "Madre Mountain" has been nearly 55 years, and it is basically in a state of scrapping. Docking such a wrecked ship on the Ren'ai Reef for the ownership of Ren'ai Reef, you can get Ren'ai Reef if you win, but losing is nothing more than losing a wrecked ship. In any case, it is a sure-fire business.

How does China respond to this rogue behavior in the Philippines?

After the Philippine side made the promise of "repairing the ship and sailing", it never sent any maintenance personnel and technicians, even supporting ships. This is obviously a long-term plan.

In addition, the Philippines also sent Philippine Marine Corps soldiers on duty in batches for a period of five months.

These actions are obviously prepared to depend on Ren'ai Reef.

China's navy began to closely monitor the ship's every move and banned the Philippines from sending building materials and military supplies to Ren'ai Reef for any reason.

For humanitarian reasons, China allowed ships carrying fresh water and food to Mount Madre to enter.

As for why China didn't forcibly drive away the wrecked ship at that time, first, the strength of China's navy was in a developing period, and it was not strong enough. Second, because of the Yugoslavia incident, the international situation is quite tense, and China does not want to spend more energy on this "broken ship".

Secondly, although the Philippine "wrecked ship" is stuck in Ren'ai Reef like a dog skin plaster, this behavior will not shake the fact that Ren'ai Reef belongs to China. For China, Ren'ai Reef is just another broken ship.

With the development of China, China's maritime military strength is getting stronger and stronger, and it is easy to get rid of this broken Philippine ship.

China has always adhered to the principle of peaceful development. When dealing with territorial disputes in the South China Sea, it adheres to the principle of shelving disputes and joint development. The Philippine's petty actions can't change the fact that China has more and more control over the South China Sea.

Therefore, as long as the Philippines does not take any further drastic actions, China and the Philippines can continue to cooperate in the name of friendship. As for the wrecked ship, let it go.

Of course, unlike China's generosity, the Philippine government continues to engage in hooliganism.

However, this behavior actually makes the soldiers stationed on the ship very painful. For several years, their lives have been so bad that they can't look straight.

For this interview, he and the Philippine government prepared for two months, accompanied by Philippine Mayor Eugenia Bito.

Thomas was "shocked" by its appearance when he first saw "Mount Madre". The ship's appearance is rusty, and the hull is covered with dense rust holes, as if it would disintegrate at any time.

"This ship has completely lost sight of the shadow of the battleship. It is simply a ghost boat standing on the Ren'ai Reef. " Thomas described in the report.

When Thomas boarded the ship, he found that the deck of the ship was divided into many areas by lines.

The Philippine crew on board told him that due to long-term exposure to the sun and the wind, the deck was seriously corroded, and the surface of many places looked complete, but in fact it was completely rusted and could not bear any weight.

These lines are forbidden zones and safe zones that they have drawn after many injuries.

Then, the crew took Thomas to their living area, which was a temporary residence. The residence has worn-out mattresses, mosquito nets and some simple daily necessities.

Cracks are everywhere on the hull. In case of rain and typhoon, water will enter the living area along the cracks and soak the mattress. At that time, they did not even have a place to sleep.

Besides rest, another big survival problem is cooking.

The crew cooks with electric cookers and frying pans, and the electricity mainly comes from a diesel generator. In addition to providing electricity for cooking, another main function of this generator is to charge the battery.

The crew mainly keeps in touch with the Philippines by radio, but the radio is very old and can only use direct current, and the generator often breaks down, so they need to charge the battery every day.

Regarding food, one is waiting for the support of the Philippines, and the other is self-sufficiency.

In addition to supporting fresh water, the crew will also collect rainwater through plastic bags and containers as domestic water in rainy days.

The crew's main food is fish. Almost every day, they catch fish in the water through their own harpoon or fishing rod, which is also one of their main pastimes on weekdays.

If they catch too many fish at a time, they will simply handle the fish, dry them in the sun and store them, and take them out to eat in rainy or typhoon weather.

But it also makes the boat and living area full of fishy smell.

The supply frequency of the Philippine government is about once a month, and every time the supply comes, it is their happiest day. On this day, they can not only eat rice and vegetables, but also eat fried chicken donated by Filipino students.

On the "Madre Mountain", besides the crew, there are a lot of rats, cockroaches and mosquitoes.

The crew also said that they had tried to drive and clean up these cockroaches, but the speed of driving was far behind the speed of cockroach reproduction, and some areas could not be reached because of destruction, so cockroaches and mosquitoes multiplied in large numbers. Now the number of cockroaches on this 100-meter-long ship is expected to reach nearly one million.

The daily affairs of the crew, besides observing the movements of ships in China nearby, are fishing, wiping weapons and cleaning the cabin.

There are two satellite phones on board, which give the crew a chance to talk to their families once a week. This may be the only belief that the crew can persist.

Due to long-term immersion in seawater, there are a lot of barnacles around the bottom of the boat. If left unchecked, the bottom of the ship will rust faster.

Of course, even with the maintenance of the crew, the ship has been tottering under the constant weather and seawater corrosion all the year round.

The Philippine government also tried to transport some materials to repair the ship, but it was eventually intercepted by the Chinese side. After all, allowing them to dock is the upper limit.

The Philippines repeatedly used the opportunity of delivering food to secretly deliver maintenance materials to the "Madre Mountain", which also angered China.

At present, China's fleet patrolling the Nansha Islands has not allowed the Philippines to approach the "Madre Mountain" for any reason.

The crew's daily necessities can only be distributed by helicopter airdrop, but the accuracy of airdrop cannot be guaranteed. Many materials were thrown into the sea because of mistakes, and the living conditions of the crew were even more difficult.

From beginning to end, China has always held a friendly and consultative attitude towards the Philippines on the issue of Ren'ai Reef, but the rogue and greed of the Philippines touched the bottom line of China, resulting in the miserable life of the crew of the "Mount Madre".

Under the action of natural forces, if there is no outside intervention, the disintegration will be the final fate of this ship. At that time, there will be no reason for the Philippine government to set foot in Ren'ai Reef.

1, World Wide Web: "The Philippines said that the soldiers on the Ren'ai Reef were starving and would send another boat."

2. Dagong Information: "Hong Kong media: Philippine warships in Ren'ai Reef can be towed away or sunk as trophies of China."

3. World Wide Web: "Philippine Broken Ship" Stranded "Ren'ai Reef secretly repaired and challenged China's sovereignty"