The Communist Party of the Philippines on 30 March condemned the ‘Balikatan’ war exercises between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and US military forces, denouncing these as part of the heightening US military intervention in the Philippines and an outright violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Marco Valbuena, CPP Chief Information Officer, declared that the Balikatan (shoulder-to-shoulder) war exercises “are causing the temperatures of military conflict in East Asia to rise.” He said the exercises “further increase the potential of inter-imperialist military conflict in East Asia between the US and China, in the face of China’s effort to build up its own military strength to push its unlawful claims on 90% of the South China Sea, and by the US effort to secure its geopolitical interests in the so-called ‘first island chain’ which includes the Philippines.”

Valbuena added, “The US show of force of thousands of American troops and their arsenal of warships, jet fighters, drones, bombs and tanks can be compared to the years of US provocations in Europe against Russia which ignited a proxy war in Ukraine. We must learn from the history of US and NATO provocations and demand a peaceful international settlement of the Philippine territorial claims as rewarded by the International Arbitral Tribunal under the UNCLOS.”

About 5,100 US and 3,800 AFP troops participated in the exercises, held from 28 March to 8 April in Northern Luzon, Central Luzon and Palawan Island. They included a landing of US troops on board amphibious assault vehicles as well as live fire exercises and the use of high mobility anti-rocket systems. Valbuena said the exercises “seek to showcase US firepower for the double purpose of feeding the AFP’s addiction to US-supplied weapons, especially attack aircraft and bombs, and a show-of-force against imperialist rival China.”

He continued, “The US is the principal driving force behind the escalation of the AFP’s war of suppression which involves the use of jet fighters, helicopters, drones, bombs, missiles, rockets, artillery riffles and bullets supplied by US defense companies and subsidiaries in Israel, Poland, Turkey and other countries.” He explained that the annual exercises are occasions to “reinforce US doctrinal and operational control of the AFP” and to make AFP generals “drool over the hi-tech weapons and the prospect of getting cuts in the billions of pesos-worth of government contracts.”

Meanwhile, the CPP called on the Filipino people on 1 April to push presidential candidates to uphold Philippine sovereignty, oppose US military intervention, oppose the use of the country as base for US superpower conflict with China and ensure that the Balikatan 2022 will be the last such US-RP war exercise.