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Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and Russia's "Look East", military cooperation has become an extremely important part of Sino-Russian relations. In the past, it was only military and technical cooperation, mainly joint research and development and import and export of weapons. In the past two years, China and Russia have held joint military exercises and joint cruises one after another, and the relationship between the two countries in the military field is gradually deepening.Just recently, China and Russia started a new round of joint maritime military exercises. The route of this exercise is very meaningful.

Chinese and Russian navies, joint cruise

This military exercise, named "Joint Sea-2024", is a follow-up to last year's joint military exercise.The main subjects include but are not limited to anchorage defense, joint reconnaissance and early warning, joint search and rescue, joint air defense and anti-missile, and there will also be actual combat training of related weapons and equipment.

The warships sent by China are a Type 052D missile destroyer "Nanning", two Type 054A missile frigates "Xianning" and "Dali", and a comprehensive supply ship "Weishanhu". Russia sent two Type 20380 missile frigates "Xiangliang" and "Linlie", and a fleet oil tanker "Irkut", all of which are main warships in the naval combat sequence of both sides.

Balintang Strait, why is it so important?

Then, the Chinese and Russian naval fleets did something fierce. While the joint military exercise was still gathering here, the Chinese "Yinchuan" and "Hengshui" frigates, and the Russian "Perfect" frigate,It has already gone all the way south from the Osumi Strait, drawn a beautiful arc around the eastern part of Taiwan Island, and entered the South China Sea through the Balintang Strait.

There is no news yet on whether this fleet will join the Chinese and Russian fleets in the "Maritime Joint 2024" operation, but the Balintang Strait is of great significance. Some time ago, the Shandong aircraft carrier formation entered the Pacific Ocean from the South China Sea through the Balintang Strait instead of the traditional route of the Bashi Strait.

The difference between the two straits is that the Bashi Channel is located between Taiwan Island and the Batanes Islands, while the Balintang Channel is located between the Philippine Luzon Island and the Batanes Islands. The Chinese Navy suddenly changed its route and now dragged the Russian Navy into the South China Sea along the 20th parallel north, causing an uproar in world public opinion.Because this involves a very sensitive issue, namely: the undetermined territory of the Philippines.

It's not your territory, you have to give it back even if you occupy it.

We all know that the Philippines was once a Spanish colony, and later a U.S. colony. In the 1898 Spanish-American Peace Treaty, the two sides made clear provisions on the territory of the Philippines, saying that Spain was willing to accept defeat and agreed to transfer the territory of the Philippines to the United States.The treaty not only states that the Philippine territory does not include the South China Sea islands claimed by the Marcos Jr. government, but also does not include the Batanes Islands north of the 20th parallel north.

In other words, both the United States and Spain at the time tacitly acknowledged that the sovereignty of the South China Sea islands and the Batanes Islands belonged to China. It was only after China experienced the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation that its national strength weakened, which gave the Philippines an opportunity to illegally occupy the Batanes Islands after its independence in 1946.Up to now, the Philippines has not only attempted to infringe upon our sovereignty in the South China Sea, but also promised the United States to build a military base in the Batanes Islands, implicitly pointing to our Taiwan Strait region.We will naturally take practical actions to warn the Philippines of this despicable behavior.

I hope the Philippines will learn from its mistakes.

We hope that the Marcos government will think clearly that illegally occupied land will never become inherent territory, and it should be spit out when it is time to spit it out. Don't try to confuse people by introducing evil laws such as the "South China Sea Arbitration". This joint military exercise also has a special exercise subject. The Chinese and Russian fleets jointly intercepted an "extraterritorial ship" and boarded the ship for inspection. It was found that it was carrying illegal weapons and the "captain" was arrested. What kind of signal is implied in this? I hope the Philippines can see it clearly as soon as possible.

As for the South China Sea, China will not give up any of the islands and reefs, including the Ren'ai Shoal, Huangyan Island, Xianbin Reef, and Zhongye Island illegally occupied by the Philippines.On the issue of safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity, China has never, is now and will never back down. Now, we can still talk to the Philippines and hope to resolve the differences through political means.When the time comes to use all means, we will never hesitate.