The United States is about to announce particulars of a model new alliance with the Philippines and four new navy bases on the island nation because it attempts to curb China’s enlargement in the South China Sea.
The US is eager to rekindle a former friendship with the Philippines, 30 years after they had been told to depart, and plug a niche in what it believes could probably be a potential political flashpoint near Taiwan.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is meeting Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Junior in Manila right now to debate US army bases within the country so they can monitor the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the G20 Summit in Indonesia in November last 12 months to talk concerning the One-China issue.
Biden acknowledged the One-China policy of Taiwan as a province and a part of the Chinese mainland, recognized by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution in 1971, and one other 181 nations. He also promised there would be no “new Cold War” including he didn’t consider China would invade Taiwan.
Yet these latest strikes appear to contradict Biden’s earlier guarantees. But, with the trillions invested in the US army, it seems they need to be at struggle with someone otherwise the cash can be wasted.
Award-winning Australian journalist John Pilger warned of the Coming War on China in a documentary and highlighted the lots of of army bases surrounding China, in the South China Sea.
The US is looking for access to bases near Taiwan, with three of them probably situated on Luzon, an island in the northern Philippines.
Gregory B Poling, director of the Southeast Asia programme on the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, mentioned no contingency within the South China Sea doesn’t require entry to the Philippines.
“The US isn’t in search of everlasting bases. It’s about places, not bases.”
This is not a return to the 1980s when the Philippines had 15,000 US troops and two of the biggest American army bases in Asia at Clark Field, and Subic Bay.
In 1991 the Philippine authorities beneath Ferdinand Marcos known as time on its outdated colonial masters to further cement both democracy and independence.
The Vietnam War was lengthy over, the Cold War was winding down, and China did not have a strong navy presence.
Now, Ferdinand Marcos is reportedly nervous about China’s presence within the South China Sea and needs a US alliance regardless of words to the contrary last month.
Since 2014 China has constructed 10 synthetic island bases, including one at Mischief Reef, deep contained in the Philippines’ exclusive financial zone.
Herman Kraft, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, stated relations between Manila and Beijing had been freed from major issues round that point.
“We had a live-and-let-live scenario within the South China Sea. But in 2012 they tried to seize management of Scarborough Shoal. Then in 2014, they began constructing the islands. The land grab by China modified the connection.”
Former Philippine Ambassador to the US, Jose Cuisia Jr., said…
“We have very limited capability towards the risk from China. The Chinese have repeatedly damaged guarantees to not militarise their new South China Sea bases.
“The Chinese have militarised those features and that puts extra of our territory under risk. Only the US has the facility to stop them. The Philippines cannot do it alone.”
Not everyone within the Philippines is proud of the proposed arrangement.
Renato Reyes, secretary common of New Patriotic Alliance, highlighted the previous historical past of violence and abuse by US troops within the Philippines submit World War II until the Nineties. There are an estimated 15,000 kids left with their Filipina mothers when their American fathers went house.
“We have an extended historical past of inequality in our relationship. The Philippines has been pressured to shoulder the social costs. There’s a historical past of rape, baby abuse, and of poisonous waste.”
Washington is asking for access to a quantity of new locations, some facing the South China Sea, others going through north towards Taiwan. Unofficial reviews point to choices in Cagayan, Zambales, Palawan, and Isabela.
The first one faces Taiwan, the second the Scarborough shoal, and the third the Spratly Islands. Any new US amenities shall be inside present Philippine bases. US troops will are available small groups and on rotation.
Double reckons the transfer will deter additional territorial enlargement by China within the South China Sea, while also providing a spot for the US to watch Chinese army actions round Taiwan.
Beijing is understandably suspicious of any agreement between Manila and Washington and in today’s Global Times an editorial said that the US is “setting a trap for the Philippines” and “trying to push the Philippines to the frontline of confrontation with China.”
Reyes added that the Philippines is caught in the center and slammed his nation’s colonial mentality..