Tuesday, May 8, 2018

CPP-Information Bureau: Protest US Balikatan war exercises and China missile deployment

CPP-Information Bureau propaganda statement posted to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Website (May 9): Protest US Balikatan war exercises and China missile deployment

Information Bureau
Communist Party of the Philippines

9 May 2018
Press Release

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the 2018 Balikatan joint war exercises between the Philippine and US military forces which violate Philippine sovereignty, heighten the militarization of the Asia-Pacific and drag the Philippines to the rising military tensions between the US and China.

The Balikatan 2018 war exercises outrightly violate Philippine sovereignty. US military forces are being allowed to sail its nuclear-powered and -capable warships into Philippine seas. The US forces are allowed to fly their jetfighters and drones over Philippine airspace. US naval forces are scheduled to mount practice amphibious invasion maneuvers on Philippine coastal areas.

Under the Visiting Forces Agreement which govern the Balikatan exercises, Philippine government officials have no authority to check on the cargo of US warships. Thus, the Philippine government cannot enforce its own 1987 constitution which prohibits the entry of nuclear weapons. The American military have long stationed missiles and other weapons in its exclusive facilities without informing the Philippine public.

With the Balikatan exercises and its focus on so-called “counter-terrorist” operations, the US is set to further heighten its intervention in the Philippines. With the terror tagging of the CPP and NPA by the US and Duterte regime, the US is set to increase its counter-insurgency intervention operations in the country. This constitutes direct intervention in a domestic conflict.

By providing the Duterte regime with military aid, the US is supporting Duterte’s fascist rampage against the people.

The Balikatan war exercises strengthens the US hegemonic foothold in the Philippines and exarcerbates military tensions in the Pacific region. It makes the Philippines an accessory to US imperialist power projection. As in the second world war, the US is dragging the Philippines to its imperial wars.

While protesting the Balikatan war exercises, the CPP denounces as well the Chinese deployment of missiles in its military outposts in the South China Sea which violates Philippine sovereignty as these are being erected within the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone. Like the Balikatan exercises, the deployment of these missiles stoke military tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Between the US and China, it is the US which is the bigger giant trampling on Philippine sovereignty. American boots are on the ground.

The CPP supports the protests being mounted against the Balikatan exercises. It urges the Filipino people to call for the demilitarization of the South China Sea. They must amplify the demand for the pull-out of all US troops and facilities in the Philippines and the dismantling of Chinese military facilities in the South China Sea.

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