No to Balikatan Exercises! Demilitarize the Asia-Pacific
Today, hundreds of members of Malaya Movement USA echo the Filipino people’s desire for true sovereignty for the Philippines. The beginning of this year’s U.S.-Philippines Balikatan Exercise is our reminder that the Philippines is not our own but a token the Marcos administration is more than happy to pawn.
Currently, the more dominant group of voices in the conversation about Philippine foreign policy are those who say that the Philippines must closely ally itself with the United States for its own good. We continue to vehemently push back on this narrow position that plays into a losing game for the country’s genuine autonomy. It is a position that traps the Philippines in a loop of subservience.
We want sovereignty, not a permanent status of lapdog to a superpower that is ready to put us in mortal peril to maintain control over the Asia-Pacific market.
As nearly 17,000 troops descend upon the Philippines, alongside troops from Australia, and for the first time ever, the French Navy, with observers from 14 other nations, it's made clear that we are effectively a military base of the United States and a launching pad for war between the U.S. and another foreign aggressor, China.
We should not celebrate the Balikatan exercises, nor the storage of foreign weaponry in the Philippines, or the use of our territory by foreign governments to drag us into conflict. Instead we must expose and condemn the Balikatan exercises for what they are: an expensive waste of public funds that exacerbates war and conflict in the region while destroying the environment, disrupting the livelihood of fisherfolk and peasants, and diverting public resources that could be used to address the urgent needs of the Filipino people like assistance from the devastating effects of El Nino or relief from high inflation.
The Filipino people have time and again asserted our sovereignty against Spanish colonization, US, and Japanese occupation. In 1992, US military bases were booted from the country. We must repeat our historical success and fight for genuine sovereignty! Demilitarize the West Philippine Sea! Junk VFA! Junk EDCA! No to unequal treaties and no to Balikatan Exercises!
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