Watch western media these days; you’ll see how they portray China as the next big enemy. There’s no surprise that their leaders, along with their media, are lulling their people into believing that China poses a threat to them.
In truth, I wouldn’t have paid too much attention to this whole thing (well, I will, but not with much passion) if we weren’t going to be used as a proxy to fight this war with China.
Fortifying Taiwan in Taiwan is not possible for the US. A Chinese invasion would surely follow if this were done. US strategy is to use us as a land base to defend Taiwan. Made no sense as to why our current leaders willingly allowed the offer of more sites, literally military bases.
In the event of a war between the US and China, any land the US uses in our country is an obvious military target.
Duterte was correct in his assessment of the situation. Problems with China’s bullying, let’s deal with them straight. Dealing with them with the US in tow is not an independent approach. US voice and control would be larger. For this reason, Duterte avoided the idea despite being surrounded by military men who wanted more US presence.
No doubt that our leaders do not understand what is happening in Ukraine. It is evident to anyone with a critical mind that the Ukrainians are fighting for the west as proxy. Not to knock the Ukrainians, they have fought well, but the West has brought them to this point. Thanks to their leaders, they did what the West, led by the US.
Filipino’s unwavering belief in US protection against aggressors and why we will pay a high price again
Our political and military leaders believe that the American presence is a layer of security against China. It has always intrigued me that many Filipinos hold Americans up almost naively in this manner. Considering the lessons learned from recent US wars, from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Without a clear win, they lost tremendous amounts of lives and resources. Nevertheless, they continue to police the world.
They have already failed us in the past, but Filipinos have short memories, especially our leaders. Forgetting history will cost us our lives and country.
While the Americans were running the country, Japan decided to wrestle it from their hands. When Japan invaded, they barely resisted. As a child, my adopted grandmother told me (her father is a US officer) how most US military forces had to flee Manila for Bataan.
This time in history has been forgotten, haven’t we?
There is something wrong with our leaders’ belief that the US will protect and save us. Giving bases to the US to be used as platforms to defend Taiwan is not in our best interest, that is all I am saying.
Before WWII began, no one thought that any foreign country would attack the Philippines. War was raging in Europe (as it is now in Ukraine), but we are in the Pacific. That’s too far for us to worry about. And the presence of American military assets, airfields and other bases on the islands should deter anyone from doing so. This is how most felt. Life was good, and there was no reason to worry.
When Japan started bombing American bases and airfields, everyone was shocked and in disbelief (as news broke that Pearl Harbor had been bombed, people were on edge that day).
Should mainland China retake Taiwan, the Americans will confront them using our territory. In the same way that the Japanese did at the start of World War II, they will strike these military targets.
It will be so fast that we will all be left holding an empty bag.
As the Japanese decided to go all out against the US for control of Asia, everything happened so fast that everyone’s head spun. Here’s a diary entry from Dr. Basilio Valdes, who served as Army chief of staff from 1939 to 1945.
“At 6 am (Dec. 8, 1941), Gen. Sutherland (US) phoned me that the Japanese had treacherously attacked Pearl Harbor at 5 am… at 9 am I received news that the Japanese planes had bombarded Davao Harbor and Airfield, destroying them… at 12:20 pm air raid alarm sounded… Japanese planes bombarded Clark Field killing and destroying bombers and other smaller planes. At 4 pm… Japanese attacked Zambales Airfield (Iba).”
from MLQIII’s “The Philippine Diary Project”
Filipinos should not fight or die in this looming war. Our leaders have chosen a side in this dangerous conflict between two giants. China and US fighting over Taiwan would crush and trample us underfoot.
Taking sides in this conflict is not in our best interests. We have to deal with our issues with China on our own accord. Our foreign policy cannot be truly independent if the US is involved. It is important to learn from history. If we can’t learn from the events barely a century ago, watch today’s news and see what has happened to Ukraine since they blindly followed the US-led west.
