Might be a crazy 2024 election. Better to buy water and toilet paper.
Miscellaneous News
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
Philippines may allow U.S. military access during Taiwan crisis
American forces could use bases only 'if it is important for us,' ambassador saysWASHINGTON/MANILA -- The Philippines would let U.S. forces use the Southeast Asian nation's military bases in the event of a Taiwan conflict only "if it is important for us, for our own security," the Philippine ambassador to the U.S. says.
Jose Manuel Romualdez, who is a relative of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and wields strong influence over the new leader's foreign and security policies, expressed concern about rising tensions between the U.S. and China.
"Nobody wants to have any kind of war or confrontation," Romualdez told Nikkei in a recent interview.
"We want to ask both countries to lessen the tension by having more dialogue and then trying to resolve all of these issues, because it's in our part of the world," he also said.
Manila takes a neutral stance on the status of Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. Observers want to know whether Marcos, who has emphasized improving relations with the U.S., would be open to cooperation with Washington in a possible Taiwan military crisis during his six-year term.
Romualdez said the previous Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, had expressed openness to letting U.S. forces use his country as a staging ground in a Taiwan contingency. But there are few signs of any discussions between Manila and Washington on such a possibility.
Marcos has signaled a change of course on China from Duterte's more conciliatory policies.
"I will not preside over any process that will abandon even one square inch of territory of the Republic of the Philippines to any foreign power," Marcos said in July in his first State of the Nation address.
A conflict over Taiwan would threaten to disrupt the free flow of goods by sea and air around the Philippines. In early August, when China conducted live-fire military drills in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, one of the drill areas stretched into the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an American think tank.
As the U.S. military seeks to distribute forces along the so-called first island chain stretching from Japan to Southeast Asia, the geopolitical importance of the Philippines is growing.
Romualdez said Manila is in talks with Washington to increase the number of Philippine military bases that American forces can use. The bilateral Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement concluded in 2014 lets the U.S. maintain a rotating military presence at five Philippine bases. "Our military and the military of the United States are all looking into what are the possible areas," Romualdez said. Additional bases may include a naval base, he said.
U.S. forces maintain ammunition, fuel and medical supplies at the bases and are ready to respond to natural disasters. Under the 2014 agreement, the construction and upgrade of storage facilities and other infrastructure was planned, but only limited progress was made during Duterte's presidency.
Asked about the time frame for implementing the plans, Romualdez said "hopefully, in the next three years, that we can have all of these areas that we have identified already."
A Pentagon spokesperson said the U.S. and the Philippines "hold regular discussions on deepening our enduring security alliance under the auspices of the Mutual Defense Treaty and multiple other agreements, including the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement."
"Looking ahead, we seek to enhance the posture of our alliance to address new and emerging challenges," the spokesperson said. "We intend to continue to implement infrastructure projects at current EDCA locations and explore additional sites for further development."
Non-paywall source:
Well of course it is a nation that greatly benefitted from Colonialism.
We are spending 1.3% of gdp in our military. The pacifist babyboomer rulers of the 2010s and early 2020s seem not to take the grave danger at our eastern seabord very seriously.
This is many month OLDs.
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That is BS. Think about it, what kind investment was it? You buy bond from US treasury, you won't get your money back until it matures in 3, 5 or 10 years. If you want to get it earlier, you sell it in open market, US treasury will not permit you to take from them. Is US treasury taking hostage of the whole world? Everybody knows the terms before they invest.
That is deception and propaganda war in its perfect form. Western MSM pretending to speak for the people of enemy side.
I am not too sure the down payment is the problem with US housing... it's being chain to a huge mortgage on a house because it has been flipped 3x in 2 years by investors into the stratosphere or evil reit corps buying up 10000s of homes.