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U.S. Military Completes Arc Around China with Access to New Bases
The U.S. Military just secured access to an arc around China after completing a deal with the Philippines to use four additional bases.
The U.S. is once again moving to escalate tensions with China—because apparently fighting a proxy war with Russia isn’t keeping them busy enough.
See, Washington has made no secret about the fact that it has been actively increasing the U.S. Military’s presence in the Indo-Pacific over the last several years – with its sights set on China.
That campaign just reached a new level today, as the Philippines agreed to give the U.S. Military access to four additional bases, which are not only prime locations, given their proximity to Taiwan and the South China Sea, but they also complete the arc of U.S. Military access around China, stretching from Japan and South Korea all the way down to Australia.
That new access is being justified under a 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, and it was announced by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during his visit to Manila on Thursday. He said the U.S. is working to address what he referred to as “destabilizing activities” in the waters surrounding the Philippines—and the $82 MILLION investment Washington is promising for the country’s military sites doesn’t hurt either.
It should come as no surprise that Lloyd is claiming “Freedom and Democracy,” while advocating for yet another military escalation, given that it has been the classic U.S. Establishment playbook for decades.
But can you imagine if China started building military bases near the southern border of the US, claiming that illegal drug trafficking with the States is threatening “Freedom and Democracy” in Mexico? The U.S. would be losing its ever-loving mind! However, the U.S. expects China to say nothing and do nothing as it quite literally builds an arc around the country with its military.
Well, Beijing isn’t staying quiet… A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said the latest move by the U.S. “escalates tensions in the region and endangers regional peace and stability,” arguing that "regional countries should remain vigilant about this and avoid being used by the U.S."
Earlier this week, that same Foreign Ministry Spokesperson was quoted saying, "If the United States really wants the crisis to end soon, if they really care about the security of the Ukrainian people, then they should stop sending weapons there and profiting from the war."
Another reminder of why Washington is continuing to escalate tensions with Beijing… because China hasn’t followed orders and agreed to NATO’s plan to isolate Russia from the civilized world. In fact the conflict has led the two nations to grow even closer, as trade between China and Russia increased by more than 34 percent in 2022.
But the U.S. isn’t just using China’s influence as an excuse to ramp up military activity in the Philippines alone. In fact, the Biden Administration just signed off on a new four-year deal promising $700 Million in support for the Marshall Islands. That was apparently the price for control over the Pacific nation’s foreign policy, with reports noting that the U.S. is guaranteed veto power “over foreign military use of Marshallese territory.”
As the Foreign Minister of the Marshall Islands put it, “It’s because of China. We’re not naïve.”
Oh, and it certainly comes as no coincidence then that the U.S. just opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands for the first time in nearly 30 years. This comes months after Biden pledged to combat what he referred to as China’s “economic coercion.”
And of course, Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the classic move of claiming it’s all about “Freedom and Democracy.”
It’s also important to note that all of the Billions of Dollars the U.S. is pouring into increasing its military presence in the Indo-Pacific region has been years in the making.
In fact, former President Obama started talking about a need to “pivot to Asia” more than a decade ago – which is ironic, considering that at the same time when he started publicly using that term in 2012, his administration had just destroyed Libya, was actively trying to destroy Syria, and was continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (You would think the man was a little busy…)
But the campaign to target China was never specific to one political party – as Donald Trump kicked off a trade war between the world’s two largest economies one he got into office. His administration also went on to break decades of diplomacy, as it facilitated diplomatic talks with officials in Taiwan for the first time in over 40 years.
Up until that point, every U.S. administration since 1979 had recognized the “One China” principle, which recognizes that Taiwan is part of China—and therefore, requires unofficial diplomatic ties with the US, out of respect for Beijing.
And as it would turn out, the actions taken by the Trump Administration would pale into comparison to those of the Biden Administration, as then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi violated Chinese airspace for an unprecedented trip to Taiwan back in August.
While the White House claimed that infamous visit was entirely directed by Pelosi herself, Biden then went on to claim in September that the U.S. Military would defend Taiwan from China—even though the U.S. recognizes Taiwan as part of China.
Given the latest escalations, then should it come as a surprise that a top Air Force general sent out a memo last week warning troops that the U.S. needs to prepare for war China in the next two years? He wrote “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025.”
So, as the U.S. continues to spend hundreds of billions of Dollars increasing the world’s largest Military Budget year after year, the questions have to be asked… what is the end goal here? How long will the public buy the claim that this is all in the name of safety and security, when it is leading to the opposite? And of course, who in their right mind thinks it’s a good idea for the U.S. to flirt with war with not just one, but TWO nuclear superpowers? Because that’s something everyone should be talking about.