The US Biden government is brazenly trampling on Philippine sovereignty as it prepares a “theater of war” against its imperialist rival China. Along with Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other countries in what it calls the “first-island chain” of countries closest to China, the Philippines is now stationed with military personnel and equipment that are ready to be used the moment war breaks out.

Lt. Gen. James Bierman, commanding general of Third Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF) and US Marine Forces Japan very explicitly said that the US has long been preparing to wage a war against China, and compared it to its preparations in the war in Ukraine against Russia. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Bierman said:

“Why have we achieved the level of success we’ve achieved in Ukraine? A big part of that has been because after Russian aggression in 2014 and 2015, we earnestly got after preparing for future conflict: training for the Ukrainians, pre-positioning of supplies, identification of sites from which we could operate support, sustain operations… We call that setting the theatre. And we are setting the theatre in Japan, in the Philippines, in other locations.”

Bierman’s words show US imperialism’s arrogance in pushing to impose its hegemony on any part of the world, manifesting complete contempt of the sovereignty of these countries, especially of semicolonies like the Philippines. Its treats its “allied” countries as pawns in a game of chess in its strategy of surrounding China.

In using the Philippines as part of its “theater of war” against China, the US is turning it into a magnet or target of possible Chinese attacks in the event that war between the US and China erupts. Using the Philippines as a US launchpad for its wars overseas outrightly violates the country’s sovereignty.

The US is brazenly using Japan, Korea and the Philippines because the ruling governments in these countries are subservient to US dictates. The Fumio Kishida government of Japan is presently conniving all-out with the US military, recently increasing spending to acquire US missiles which can hit targets from a 1000-kilometers distance. Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol is pushing for the prepositioning of US nuclear weapons in their country. The US has large military bases both in Japan and Korea.

Last year, the Marcos government declared its plan to allow the construction of five additional US facilities in its chosen areas: two in Cagayan province, one each in Isabela, Zambales and Palawan. This is in addition to the five US military facilities inside AFP camps established under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The US is expected to use these facilities to position ground-to-air missile systems aimed at China.

These facilities form part of the US strategy to push China to “own the starting pistol.” Among these provocations are the sailing of warships into the Taiwan Strait which is recognized as Chinese territory under the One China Policy, and the unending navigation of its aircraft carriers in the western and eastern seas of the Philippines and on Japan’s eastern coast, and the successive “war exercises” in the Philippines, South Korea and Japan, as well as India, near China’s borders.

US war provocations against China are part of its push to control markets and supply of resources. The decades-long US collusion with Chinese monopoly bureaucrat-capilists has now become a heightening economic and military war. The US aims to take away the vast markets dominated by China’s cheap commodities.