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The ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meetings opened in Manila, the Philippines, on Tuesday, with the Philippines holding the ASEAN chairmanship this year. This follows dangerous provocations staged by Manila a day earlier in the waters near China's Ren'ai Jiao, which escalated tensions over the South China Sea issue. The trouble‑making on the eve of ASEAN meetings is no random clash: The Philippines aims to hijack the agenda of ASEAN's flagship diplomatic event, manufacture international public opinion against China, and leverage US‑led Western support to advance its political gambit regarding the South China Sea issue, which violates the core duties of the ASEAN rotating chair, Chinese experts pointed out.