US military power in the Asia-Pacific
Armed intervention by American troops in the Philippines is part of the overall military strategy of US imperialism in the Asia-Pacific. It is in accordance with maintaining a "credible power projection" through the deployment of about 100,000 US troops in the region, as stated in the "Security Strategy Report for the Asia-Pacific Region" issued by the US Department of Defense in 1995 and 1998.
At present, the US has 73,000 military personnel in its military bases in Japan (36,930) and Korea (35,952). It also has 17,150 troops based in warships of the Seventh Fleet that patrol the Pacific Ocean.
Including its troops based in Guam, Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific Ocean within US territory, there are up to 300,000 American soldiers stationed in the region. They comprise 20% of the US Armed Forces� entire troop strength and represent the biggest number of forces outside their own continent.
Unlike Europe, where the US has a military alliance with other countries through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the US is able to flex its muscles as the sole power in the Asia-Pacific region.
There is a direct link between the US� desire to ensure its economic interests and its military deployment in the region. The Asia-Pacific is the biggest market that serves as a dumping ground for US commodities. The US has up to $150 billion in investments and conducts $500 billion worth of trade annually in the region. The Asia-Pacific is one of the US� biggest sources of cheap raw materials and labor.
The Pentagon Quadrennial Defense Review of September 30, 2001 states that there is a need for more "access and infrastructure agreements" between the US and Asia due to the emergence of China as a rival military power with a strong base. The "access and infrastructure agreements" would allow American troops to enter and base themselves in countries and use the latter�s infrastructure.
One strategic objective of the US� strong military presence in Asia is the containment of China, as the latter has the biggest market not only in Asia but in the entire world. The US would like to control the trade routes in order to control the Chinese market and ensure that China would not act independently and against US interests.
Based also on the security strategy outlined by the US for the Asia-Pacific in 1995 and 1998, the main objectives of the massive deployment of US troops and the bilateral military alliances in the Asia-Pacific are to directly manage and train the armed forces of neocolonies and make them dumping grounds of equipment and outmoded military weapons, to serve as a counterweight to China and a shield against the military might of an independent Korea, and to immediately deploy assault troops against the emerging and rising anti-imperialist and revolutionary movements in the region.
The US armed forces would confront not only US imperialism�s enemies (such as China and North Korea) or "common enemies" of international and regional alliances that the US has formed. They also focus on "internal threats" especially in the US� semicolonies. Towards this end, "training" programs for troops in various areas of the world have been developed and expanded. Such "trainings" concentrate on strengthening what the US calls "foreign internal defense" (involvement in the internal defense of other countries), which are sometimes packaged as "anti-terrorism" and anti-drugs. According to the Doctrine for Special Forces Operations, the objective is to "organize, train, advise and assist" military forces of other countries "to free them and protect their interests from subversion, lawlessness and insurrection". For its "foreign internal defense" in the Philippines, US imperialism plans to directly confront as well the New People�s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
US imperialism�s alliance and cooperation with Japan is key to its strategic security in the Asia-Pacific. There are security agreements between them that are marked by the maintenance of bases and other US military facilities in Japan, US training of the Japan Self-Defense Force and Japan�s contribution to expenditures for the research and development of sophisticated weaponry.
Aside from the maintenance of military bases in Japan and South Korea, the US ensures its free access to the various countries in the region through support agreements. Among them are the acquisition of "access rights" for its armed forces in Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei. Through the acquisition of "access rights," the US is able to position its troops even in the absence of a permanent military base in the country it has an agreement with. But in reality, it transforms such countries into gigantic US military bases.
In the Philippines, the Macapagal-Arroyo regime has been surreptitiously attempting to grant the US "access rights" through an executive agreement. Macapagal-Arroyo and Bush secretly drafted the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement (MLSA) in November 2001*. But due to intense criticism and protests by the people and even the reactionary opposition, the regime was forced to deny its existence and declare that what it had signed was a mere draft. Thus, the regime is unable to use the agreement to legitimize the entry of foreign troops in the country and has been constrained to come up with an assortment of legal hocus pocus.
The US has been setting up permanent and temporary military bases in other parts of Asia. Some of its newer military bases are in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and India in Central and South Asia.
The US is also training the various national armies in the region. Aside from the Philippines, it is conducting trainings in more than 150 countries, including Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Russia.
*See discussion on the MLSA in "American troops: Basing themselves anew in the Philippines", AB January 2002.
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