The visit to Manila last March 28 of US President Trump’s Defense Secretary Hegseth was meant to advance US imperialism’s wars of aggression agenda in the Indo-Pacific region and is specifically directed against its imperialist rival China. Hegseth has announced that the U.S. and the Philippines have come together to work toward reestablishing military deterrence in the Indo-Pacific region.

In a statement, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounced this US “deterrence strategy” calling it nothing more than a plan to deploy more and more American troops, naval ships and other war equipment in the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and other countries, and is geared towards heightening US war preparations and provocations in the Asia-Pacific region with the US strategic goal of “containing” the growth of its imperialist rival China.

“Military deterrence is a policy that the US has repeatedly invoked in the past to justify the forward deployment of its military forces. Instead of preventing wars, this policy has instead invariably increased the possibility of armed conflict, as its actions are perceived by US rivals as aggressive and hostile. The most recent example is Ukraine, where the aggressive push to bring Ukraine into the NATO, and the presence and deployment of US military advisers, trainers and missile systems along the country’s eastern border provoked Russia to carry out a military assault on Ukraine in 2022,” the CPP emphasized.

To advance this “deterrence” strategy, the US will help “modernize” the Philippines’ armed forces, promising initially a $500 million Foreign Military Financing package, the sale of 20 F-16 fighter jets worth $5.58bn to Philippines, the continued training of Filipino soldiers and conducting non-stop military exercises under the so-called Balikatan war games and prepositioning war matériel at EDCA sites, providing military aid for aerial bombing and the brutal counterinsurgency. 

According to news reports, this year’s war games will take place primarily on Luzon and Palawan and at several sites covered under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which allows the U.S. to build facilities and store supplies and equipment at nine areas in the Philippines. The games, according to reports, will begin at Camp Aguinaldo in Manila and feature air- and missile-defense training at the Naval Education Training and Doctrine Command near Subic Bay. The U.S. and Philippine navies, along with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, will conduct a joint sail outside Philippine territorial waters along the coast of Luzon, April 26-29. On April 28, U.S. and Philippine forces will hold a live-fire drill on Palawan, simulating a counterattack on a hostile landing force.

Also, during these exercises, the US will deploy the NMESIS (Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System) anti-ship missile system, which is capable of firing missiles to a distance of 185 kilometers and unmanned surface vehicles that can be used for a range of purposes for the US Navy.

The Typhon missile system was deployed last year during the war exercises and has since been stationed in a undisclosed US military site in the country. Hegseth has also proposed the deployment of another second mid-range Typhon Missile System battery to the Philippines.

In a similar statement, the NDFP International Office stressed that Hegseth’s push for the “modernization” of the Armed Forces of the Philippines aims to transform the AFP into an auxiliary force of the US military in the event of an all-out war with China. While the maritime dispute with China remains fundamentally a territorial and resource issue and could be resolved through dialogue,  the NDFP Office said, it pales in comparison to the pervasive US control over Philippine economy, culture, politics and military which poses a far more insidious threat. “Hegseth’s plans to deepen security ties with the Philippine reactionary government not only further entrenches US control over the country’s defense but also further implicates the US in Marcos Jr.’s ongoing war crimes, including indiscriminate bombings and military attacks on civilian communities under the guise of ‘counterinsurgency’ operations,” the NDFP Int’l Office stated.

The CPP and the NDFP have both called on the Filipino people to demand the immediate dismantling of all US military bases and facilities, the pull-out of American military troops, the abrogation of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and other unequal military agreements and an end to military aid to the repressive Marcos regime.