The Philippines, a former U.S. colony in all but name, former close U.S. ally, a country I lived in for a couple years back in the 90s — and have written about extensively in my Custom Maid for New World Disorder trilogy — is again adrift in the geopolitical U.S.-China regional power-plays for domination in the South China Seas.
China appears to be winning the U.S.-China joust for military, economic and political control of the area with its militarized islands that the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also claim rights too.
The U.S., that once had a naval base in Subic and air base at Clark in the Philippines, has been evicted and is now down to a temporary base to train and support the Philippine armed forces in their war on terror against ISIS — and China?
The Philippine Follies, according to my Filipino friends, are: U.S. neglect and disengagement, Philippine government’s failure to persuasively ask the U.S. to come to its support under their mutual defense treaty, refusal to enforce the 2016 international tribunal ruling in its favor of Filipino territorial rights to the South China Sea — and allowing China to bribe its way across the South China Sea and the Philippines.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has visited China five times since he took office and the U.S. — zero!
During Duterte’s China visit last week, he agreed to look at letting China jointly explore the energy resources in the disputed waters.
Back in 2012 I wrote in Custom Maid Revolution for New World Disorder:
“The Spratlys, like North Korea, are one of the hot spots
in Asia that could spark another war that is in no one’s
interest — other than the military-industrial complex. Former
Philippine President Fidel Ramos, a general and former defense
secretary himself, summed up the solution best: “The region’s
economic growth and progress require that we Asians contain
our rivalries and avoid the arms races that, unfortunately, now
seem to be under way.”
It is still underway. China has militarized the islands and is drilling for energy, while the U.S and Philippine governments snooze at the political wheel. These Philippine follies have to come to an end if America wants to get back into the regional political game and regain regional credibility and support.