The United States Plans to Open Four New Bases in Philippines in Latest Move to Contain China
Jose Nino
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The United States and the Philippines are close to signing an agreement that would install four new military sites in the Philippines. According to Kyle Anzalone and Connor Freeman, these new military installations are “part of a US military buildup in the Indo-Pacific to prepare for war with China.”
Per the Washington Post, negotiations are still being hammered out but a deal between the two countries is quickly approaching. Once the deal is signed, American military forces are expected to have new sites at four Philippines military bases.
Two of these new facilities will be located in Luzon, located in the northern portion of the nation. These military sites will likely be used in a potential conflict with China in the future and “could give US forces a strategic position from which to mount operations in the event of a conflict in Taiwan or the South China Sea,” the Post observed.
Back in 2012, under then-President Barack Obama, the US took a more hawkish policy toward China, which is called the “pivot to Asia,” the largest buildup of the military since World War II. The Pivot to Asia has witnessed the Defense Department allocate billions of dollars for new bases, ships, and weapons to be installed across Asia. The primary goal of the national security state is to encircle China with its air and naval forces.
The Joe Biden regime has been ramping up the military buildup in the Pacific. Recently, the Department of Defense opened a new military facility in Guam. At the end of 2023, the Pentagon granted a private contract to start work on a new radar installation in Palau.
The US and the Philippines have strengthened their relations since Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed the presidency in June. Marcos’ presidential predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, threatened to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement with the US and even hinted at gravitating towards China. Now that Duterte is out of the picture, the US and the Philippines can now flesh out agreements for new military bases.
The Biden regime has vowed to defend the Philippines should a conflict between the archipelago nation and China kick off, especially over the Whitson Reef — where there are constant territorial disputes.
While China’s rise should worry several Asian nations. It’s none of the US’s business. China is a threat insofar as its trade policies and exploitation of the US’s flawed immigration measures are concerned. However, none of that has to be solved militarily. With so many problems at home, the last thing the US should be doing is pursuing a policy of dual containment against Russia and China — two nuclear powers who won’t lay down and let the US bully them.
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