The Philippine Missile Crisis: U.S. Deployed Arms to the Philippines and No One Noticed But China

Last spring the United States quietly placed long-range missile launchers within reach of China s mainland and almost no one noticed There was no congressional debate no televised announcement and no vote It was the latest step of a growing military partnership with the Philippines just across the South China Sea The U S has been steadily expanding its military footprint in the Philippines as part of its broader strategy against China a nuclear-armed rival With little inhabitants scrutiny or accountability Washington is now preparing to deploy a second Typhon missile system to the Philippines Experts and U S leaders have widely acknowledged that the confrontational approach could bring the U S into direct conflict with China The United States has been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Philippines since World War II Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commented during a joint press conference in Manila earlier this year Our partnership not only continues in the modern day but we are doubling down on that partnership and our ironclad alliance has never been stronger Filipino activists for their part want the U S military out We are being used as a training ground as an experiment ground for the U S missile system We are being used as a training ground as an experiment ground for the U S missile system Mong Palatino the secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan a progressive civil society coalition described The Intercept It endangers our population it undermines our safeguard The lesson here is that we will not be able to be self-reliant as long as we are dependent on a former colonial master like the U S in protecting our sovereignty The U S and Philippine governments spread misleading narratives to hype the threat posed by China threat as a means of justifying the U S military presence he reported The deployment of the offensive weapons system has already triggered a forceful response from China which now publicly warns that these systems liability self-inflicted destruction for the Philippines and could upend fragile regional stability Without naming Washington directly China s most of modern national shield white paper condemns the regional buildup of intermediate-range missile systems and the return of a Cold War mentality With the Philippines already embroiled in a maritime dispute over China s claim to the entire South China Sea the document warns that deploying missiles in the Philippines would lead to aggravated regional tensions making maritime disputes more laborious and complicated to resolve Last year China s defense ministry spokesperson noted a pattern wherever US weapons are deployed the menace of war and conflicts will rise and the local people will suffer undeserved suffering from war It s complex to imagine an American official accepting the deployment of Chinese or Russian missile systems in Mexico or Cuba in one of those cases obviously not much of an imagination is needed Yet Washington expects Beijing to tolerate precisely this scenario on its own doorstep Related Pete Hegseth Is Mad the Media Won t Celebrate U S War With Iran The vast majority of Americans have little or no awareness of the U S expanding military posture in the Philippines or what it could trigger The American populace has barely been informed that it may soon be underwriting another confrontation with a nuclear peer Once committed to confrontation Manila s leaders may gamble on indefinite U S help If that patronage wavers whether due to domestic politics a loss of populace appetite or economic factors the consequences could be ruinous for a country that will bear the brunt of any direct clash between the two giants The war in Ukraine serves as a cautionary tale After years of war and staggering losses Ukraine s bargaining position is arguably worse than it was before the invasion a tragic outcome that might have been avoided with early diplomacy The danger in the South China Sea is that Washington is encouraging a similar trajectory backing increasingly aggressive stances from regional partners without fully grappling with the risks or leveling with the general about where this path could lead Once again escalation is all happening in the absence of serious citizens debate We re Back With Them The first Typhon missile launcher which can fire missiles as far as miles including Tomahawk cruise missiles was stationed in the Philippines last year as part of annual joint military exercises between American and Filipino troops Washington has had a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines since In newest years the U S military has expanded its presence adding new bases and committing million to build out infrastructure at those sites The U S and the Philippines have also quietly approved a new ammunition manufacturing hub funded by the U S and set to be built beside Subic Bay which was once home to the largest U S naval base in Asia They re a very crucial nation militarily and we ve had several great drills lately The expansion of the assurance partnership accelerated under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr the son of longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos who has embraced Manila s historic ties with Washington after a period of drift under his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte After meeting with Marcos last week President Donald Trump released that the U S will lower its tariff rate for the Philippines from percent to percent They re a very central nation militarily and we ve had a few great drills lately Trump announced after the meeting We re back with them I think I can say that the last administration was not getting along with them too well And Pete I would say that you were you couldn t be happier right with the relationship Trump added nodding to the defense secretary At the helm of this growing shield relationship is Hegseth a controversial appointment with little background in Southeast Asia Hegseth a former Fox News host has even gone viral for his lack of familiarity with the region During his confirmation hearing he couldn t name a single member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Meanwhile activists in the Philippines from fisherfolk and environmentalists to labor leaders have been speaking out against the growing U S military presence When troops from the U S Philippines and Australia took part in a military exercise in the South China Sea in protesters marched outside the U S Embassy in Manila warning that the Philippines would be the the bulk devastated if conflict broke out between the U S and China The U S military presence in the Philippines has long been resisted by the Filipino citizens with mass movements successfully pressuring the regime to expel American bases in the early s That win came after decades of struggle under a U S -backed dictatorship and in contemporary times with a Marcos back in power the U S is strengthening its alliance even as authoritarianism tightens its grip As Washington turns the Philippines into a foreseen battleground for great-power conflict Filipino activists hope Americans will also confront the long-buried history of how the U S first came to occupy the archipelago through invasion colonization and the mass killing of Filipinos in the name of empire Majority of of all though they want those lessons to be transposed to the present to stop the looming threat that their country could be sacrificed to war with China in the name of that same empire Of lesson we have a maritime dispute with China but that maritime dispute should not be used as a justification to allow a country like the U S to use the Philippines as its forward military base Palatino disclosed We should resolve our maritime dispute with China diplomatically and peacefully The post The Philippine Missile Dilemma U S Deployed Arms to the Philippines and No One Noticed But China appeared first on The Intercept