Party of the Laboring Masses: The Marcos-Duterte regime’s real Easter message — Dragging the Philippines into a war with China

PLM statement on the Balikatan exercises and the US military plans in the region

Today [April 11], the Philippines is hosting the biggest ever military exercise with the US, an 18-day drill with more than 17,000 troops — 5,000 Filipinos, 12,000 Americans, and 111 Australians. The son, Marcos Jr., is continuing the dictator Marcos’ puppetry to the US imperialist interests. The Marcos family has some $5 to $10 billion in landholdings and other assets distributed throughout the world in such places as California, Washington, New York, Rome, Vienna, Australia, Antilles, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Singapore. Being on the wrong side of the United States, especially in a dispute as central as the China-US conflict could have devastating financial consequences for the Marcos dynasty.

The central aim of American foreign policy for this region is to regain Washington’s strategic balance through a direct competition with the Eurasian alliance between China and Russia. Moreover, this is centrally framed upon a redesigned regional plan encompassing economic treaties and security-oriented structures and processes that aspire a hegemonic sway in the Asia-Pacific region. This regional plan comes amid the grave multiple crises of the imperialist word system.

The conjunctural crises of international capital is pushing the US toward a more aggressive path on the world stage. US imperialism is pursuing a fresh shift in the global division of labor to greatly favor and sustain its own economic objectives and directly counter the Beijing-Moscow axis via a newfound economic-security framework spanning the Asia-Pacific region.

While PLM opposes China’s bullying and aggressive nationalism in its claims to the West Philippine Sea, we call for a negotiated settlement between the relevant parties in ASEAN and China without US and other big power intervention.

While we recognize Taiwan’s national sovereignty, we also oppose the US plan to use the unresolved status of Taiwan to pursue US’ war plans against China.

We oppose the increasing militarization of the region led by the US, including related agreements between the powers of the Global North, such as AUKUS. The Philippines is a forward operating base for US weapons and warships through the EDCA. The US is prepared to fight China to every last Filipino standing.

The US is dramatically expanding its military presence in the Philippines and the colonialist history is repeating itself. Under a new deal with the Marcos regime, the US will be allowed to occupy four military bases in addition to the five it already operates.

Stop the Balikatan Exercises!
Scrap EDCA, VFA and all other unequal military treaties with the US and other imperialist powers!
No to US bases!
Protect and strengthen our national sovereignty!
No to imperialist wars!