[News] RIMPAC Naval Exercises, the Philippines and War on China

[Anti-Imperialist News]

counterpunch.org
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/06/30/rimpac-naval-exercises-the-philippines-and-war-on-china/>
RIMPAC Naval Exercises, the Philippines and War on China by Victor Gregor
Limon – Seiji Yamada <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/vctrgrgr2928/>-
June 30, 2022
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The United Kingdom’s carrier strike group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, and
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Forces led by Hyuga-class helicopter destroyer
JS Ise joined with U.S. Navy carrier strike groups led by flagships USS
Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson to conduct multiple carrier strike group
operations in the Philippine Sea, Oct. 3, 2021. Photo: US Navy.

A strange group of visitors are arriving in Hawaiʻi: 38 battleships, four
submarines, more than 170 aircraft, nine national land forces, and some
25,000 personnel from more than two dozen countries. These war machines
come every other year to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC)
exercises, the largest naval exercise in the world, hosted by the US Navy
since 1971.

One contingent in these war games will stand out: a lone frigate bearing
the name of Antonio Luna, the firebrand Philippine revolutionary army
general who led the military resistance against invading US troops during
the Philippine-American War. This warship will represent the present-day
Philippine armed forces, now allied with, trained, and funded by its former
military foe.

Such a paradox, however, does not seem out-of-place in an event such as
RIMPAC, whose stated goal is to ensure “the safety of sea lanes and
security on the world’s interconnected oceans” by flexing America’s war
muscle, intimidating rivals, and reaffirming the subservience of vassal
states, particularly the Philippines.

Because of the strategic geopolitical location of the Philippines, as well
as its rich natural and human resources, the archipelagic nation and former
colony is indispensable in America’s “pivot” toward Asia. First announced
in 2011 by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this foreign policy
ushered a new era of US imperialism.

With the West’s markets still hungry for wealth and expansion, it became
imperative for the US not only to strengthen and exploit its dominance in
Asia but also to defend it from China’s steady and rapid rise as an
economic and military superpower. In this impending war, Hawaiʻi and the
Philippines, together with Taiwan, South Korea, Okinawa, Japan, and Guam,
will play crucial roles as battlefields and lily pads in the Pacific,
staging areas from where the US can launch offensives.

As China fortifies outcroppings in the West Philippine Sea into military
bases – both there and in the Taiwan Strait, the US conducts provocative
“freedom of navigation” incursions by military aircraft and warships. In
April of this year, the US sent 5,000 troops to the Philippines for
Balikatan (“shoulder-to-shoulder”) war exercises, which ended on the day
before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s virtual meeting with then Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte. Around the same time, Hawai‘i’s US
Representative Ed Case also visited the Philippines to promote ties between
the US and its former colony.

It would be naive to believe that these tactical manoeuvres are all in the
name of international peace and security, given the contradictions of the
US’s strategic stance. For instance, while sanctioning Russia and
supporting Ukraine with weapons, the US will not send troops to fight in
Ukraine. In contrast, on May 23, President Joe Biden vowed that the US
would engage militarily if China were to invade Taiwan, despite the
horrific cost of a war in the region.

Unsurprisingly the US government appears unbothered by reports of
widespread disinformation, intimidation, violence, and fraud in the recent
presidential elections in the Philippines. Is it because the new president
is Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr, son of the late dictator who oversaw
the use of US bases in Clark and Subic Bay during the Vietnam War?

Eager to rekindle this relationship and further consolidate US military
presence in the Philippines, the Biden administration was among the first
to congratulate the dictator’s son on his victory and his family’s return
to power—36 years after Ronald Reagan helped the Marcos clan escape to
Hawaiʻi after an uprising ousted the older Marcos in 1986. Can we expect a
similar arrangement that seeks to exonerate the Marcoses from liability for
their crimes for the sake of US war interests in the region?

This historical context and current global situation paint a frightening
picture. Less concerned about peace, international security, and human
rights, and more motivated to strengthen its military dominance, the US’s
war posturings against China can be expected to escalate.

Thankfully, this warmongering is far from unchallenged. Around the world,
people’s movements are leading the charge in resisting the lurch toward
another world war and are together forming an agenda for peace.

In the Philippines, militant activist groups are continuing the movement
that successfully evicted American troops from its bases on Philippine soil
in 1991 and are now trying to prevent the de-facto return of these bases
through the Visiting Forces Agreement of 1998, the Enhanced Defense
Cooperation Agreement of 2014, and joint exercises such as Balikatan.

In the continental US as well as in Hawai‘i, human rights organisations are
lobbying for the passage of the Philippine Human Rights Act, which would
cut off US government funding used by the Philippine military and police to
perpetrate extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations,
silence dissent, and serve as pawns for a possible war with China.

In Hawaiʻi, indigenous and other grassroots organisations like Cancel
RIMPAC are calling for an end to the war exercises in the islands. The
financial cost of holding RIMPAC exercises is a scandalous expense at a
time when resources are so direly needed to save millions from poverty and
hunger and a still-ongoing global pandemic. And that is not even
considering the carbon released by the tons of fossil fuels burned by
military contingents or the harm to sea life during the exercises.

Community and environmental groups have succeeded in wresting an agreement
from the US Navy to shut down Red Hill, a 250 million gallon capacity US
military fuel storage facility that has been leaking for decades,
contaminating the aquifer that supplies drinking water in Oʻahu, Hawai‘i.
It became clear to all that the US military could not care less about the
health of even its service members, let alone the health of the people of
Hawaiʻi, or the fragile ecology of the island. This is perhaps
unsurprising, given that military posturing in the Asia-Pacific risks the
potential extinction of the human species through a nuclear war.

Through RIMPAC, Balikatan, and other similar exercises, the US is already
setting the stage for the horrors of death and destruction. There is no
other choice for us but to respond by bringing together the peoples of
Hawaiʻi, the Philippines, and other nations to frustrate these threats of
war, protect life, and promote lasting global peace and justice.

*Victor Gregor Limon** is a member of Anakbayan Hawaii.*

*Seiji Yamada** is a member of the Hawaii Committee for Human Rights in the
Philippines*
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