Volume IV, Number 15. 15 August 2022.

The latest US provocations against China over Taiwan brings the world closer to the verge of a global war. The US carries out these challenges against China even as it continues to engage in a proxy war in Ukraine against Russia. In the context of a declared ‘no limits’ partnership between Russia and China, backing each other over standoffs on Ukraine and Taiwan with a promise to collaborate more against the West, a US war against China will ignite a new World War.

While the Filipino people condemn US imperialism for its warmongering, they must likewise denounce Chinese imperialism for abandoning Chairman Mao Zedong’s long-standing policy of peaceful settlement, in its imperious drive to use military might in resolving the issue of China’s reunification.

The recent visit to Taiwan by US Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a blatant provocation against China. The visit came after recent declarations by US President Biden that it will “come to Taiwan’s defense.” A few days earlier, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper led an Atlantic Council delegation to Taiwan and called for an end to the ‘One-China Policy’ while a US guided-missile destroyer, the USS Benfold, sailed through the Taiwan Strait. The US military also deployed the USS Reagan carrier strike group east of Taiwan.

China responded to the provocations by firing 11 ballistic missiles into waters surrounding Taiwan as part of “a series of military exercises”. The US wishes China to commit a miscalculation to justify its actions to “defend Taiwan,” stimulate increased deployment and sales of US firepower in the region.

In the face of escalating competition from imperialist China, the US has imposed trade sanctions against China-made products, including against Huawei, on the pretext that the company was engaged in spying. Additionally, the US has activated the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Japan, India and Australia, with the aim of encircling China. It is also advocating the expansion of NATO beyond the Atlantic by including Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, declaring China as a “strategic threat” to the military alliance.

The Filipino people must denounce the US for using Philippine military facilities and territorial waters as springboard for aggressive acts against China. Filipinos must support the people of Taiwan in their struggle against the use of Taiwan as a US pawn and against China’s growing militarism. At the same time, they must support the Chinese people’s aspirations to resolve China’s reunification peacefully and amicably.

The Filipino people must demand the withdrawal of all US troops and military advisers from Philippine soil, which makes the country a target of reprisals of US enemies. They must also call on China to respect Philippine national sovereignty and maritime territory and demand the dismantling of all military facilities built within and around the West Philippine Sea.

The Filipino people must join forces with the peace-loving peoples of the US and China and build a united front against imperialist war. Together with the peoples of Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific and beyond, the Filipino people must also build a united front to oppose imperialist aggression, especially US war provocations in the region.