US access to former bases will make PH a colony again, says American peace activist

From InterAksyon (Jul 23): US access to former bases will make PH a colony again, says American peace activist



Allowing the United States access to its former military bases in Clark and Subic will mean the Philippines reverting to being a colony again, an American peace activist who is against the weaponization of space said.

In an interview with InterAksyon.com, Bruce Gagnon, coordinator and co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, said the plan would only further militarize the region and close other peaceful means of settling the country’s territorial dispute with China.

“It’s a mistake for the Philippines to embrace the world’s biggest military aggressor and, in the process, make an enemy of the next rising superpower and become its target in the process,” Gagnon said.

“The United States has big ambitions in the region. It wants to control China by controlling 60 percent of the naval routes in the region through more ports and more ships,” he said.

Gagnon, who organized in 1997 the Cancel Cassini Campaign against the launching of 72 pounds of plutonium into space, said the Philippines must remain independent and neutral in the impending fight between the US and China.

“Foster economic relations with China,” he suggested.

In its territorial dispute with China, he said the Philippines must try to work out its difference with China in a “positive” manner.

Gagnon said China started to become aggressive about its borders only after the United States’ announcement of its “pivot” back to Asia. He said China interprets this as a US attempt to control its traditional trade routes.

Early July, President Benigno Aquino III confirmed statements by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario of another form of joint military cooperation with the US and Japan.

Aquino said the two countries’ access to the former Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base is part of the Philippines’ effort to establish “a credible alliance” with its only two “strategic partners.”

At the same time, he denied China’s allegation that this plan was meant to provoke Beijing even as he stressed access to the installations was “not permanent,” following concerns raised about the constitutionality of the planned arrangement.

On the other hand, the conservative Washington-based Heritage Foundation lauded Aquino’s plan and pushed for “greater US presence in the region.”

In contrast to Gagnon’s concerns, Olivia Enos, research assistant in the Asia Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, said the plan to give the US access to its former bases “would help the Philippines counter an increasingly aggressive China.”

Enos said the new base-sharing agreement between the US and the Philippines must be completed earlier than 2016, when Aquino leaves office.

“History, however, is moving at a faster pace: Chinese ships at Scarborough and Second Thomas Shoal are testament to that. The allies ought to be more ambitious on time frames,” she said.

“Increased access to Filipino bases is a critical element in enhancing military ties in a way that can strengthen the position of both vis-à-vis China,” Enos said, citing a three-part blueprint produced by Heritage Foundation’s Walter Lohman.

Until 1991, before the Philippine Senate voted against renewing the Philippines-US Military Bases Agreement, the Philippines hosted the United States’ largest overseas military facilities.

In place of the abrogated agreement, the US and the Philippines signed the Visiting Forces Agreement providing for the annual joint military exercises between the two countries.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/67007/us-access-to-former-bases-will-make-ph-a-colony-again-says-american-peace-activist