Posted on 08/07/2022 1:11:54 PM PDT by Mariner
MANILA (Reuters) -Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured the Philippines on Saturday that the United States would come to its defence if attacked in the South China Sea, seeking to allay concerns about the extent of the U.S. commitment to a mutual defence treaty.
In meetings in Manila dominated by discussion on simmering U.S.-China tensions over the Taiwan visit of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Blinken said a 70-year-old defence pact with the Philippines was "ironclad".
"An armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels and aircraft will invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under that treaty," Blinken told a news conference.
"The Philippines is an irreplaceable friend, partner, and ally to the United States."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
The Afghanistan withdraw, though the methodology was incompetent, was clearly in US bet interests. And the sooner the better.
And this pronouncement. The old Clark AFB and Subic Bay Naval Station/Cubi Point are the most valuable real estate in the world right now as far as the US is concerned.
From Clark AFB it's but 600 miles to Taiwan putting it easily within the combat radius of the F-35 and all other advanced US aircraft.
And Subic Bay is but a 2 day pleasure cruise to the Strait of Malacca through which 75% of China's energy passes.
And we want those bases back.
While US interests in the South China Sea/Western Pacific are not existential, they are considerable and they are essential/strategic.
The exact opposite of Ukraine, where we have no interests whatsoever.
Realpolitik.
China sees Guam as her natural eastern border.
If I was the Philippine government, I would be looking for support elsewhere.....
“China sees Guam as her natural eastern border.”
San Francisco. :)
Indeed. We are not a reliable ally. We say a lot of stuff, but we mean very little of it.
The Filipinos are a worthless ally. I’d much rather have Taiwan than them.
Duarte is scared of the Chicoms. Rent on the bases should be free. Charge Korea/Japan for theirs. They got money because they’re more chinky than the Flips.
Duarte is scared of the Chicoms. Rent on the bases should be free. Charge Korea/Japan for theirs. They got money because they’re more chinky than the Flips.
How so?
Dutarte is gone.
The people have great historical affection for the US.
Those bases are now covered with hotels,restaurants, factories, and private housing. They are not what they used to be.
A top retired Chinese general stated in a CCP mouthpiece newspaper that their strategy would be a decapitation attack. In other words, all US bases would be hit. Also, probably some bases in the continental US would be included for good measure. Nothing that comes out of the CCP such as this article are not fully vetted before publication. The CCP uses opportunities such as this to make threats. But since he was “retired” it wasn’t “official.”
All of our war games seem to be based on the enemy playing by our rules. I think if the CCP was seriously considering a war their first move would be to wipe out every American asset before we even know there’s a war on. Our war games are based on faulty assumptions that there would be a gradual escalation and we’d end up trumping whoever was acting out.
Now, do I think the CCP is stupid enough to do something like that? Probably not. But when you have just one person...one maybe insane guy in charge...like North Korea, or Russia or Chaina...well, things could get dicey very fast. This is why I wanted a president who scared the crap out of people...someone who stayed up nights thinking up nasty Tweets. Not somebody who forgets his name and stumbles up stairs when the cameras are running.
I think the reason there’s a war in Ukraine is Putin viewed Biden as weak.
“An armed attack on Philippine armed forces, public vessels and aircraft will invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under that treaty,”
*************
Yeah, right. Blinken will be blinking when the time comes. Any country who believes a word this clown says is fooling itself.
“All of our war games seem to be based on the enemy playing by our rules. I think if the CCP was seriously considering a war their first move would be to wipe out every American asset before we even know there’s a war on. Our war games are based on faulty assumptions that there would be a gradual escalation and we’d end up trumping whoever was acting out.”
Because they’re anxious for existential nuclear war?
We outnumber them 15 - 1 and all our delivery systems are proven to work
“Duarte”
No such person in present or past governments of Philippines. Marcos is current president, Sara is VP.
*How so?
Dutarte is gone.
The people have great historical affection for the US.*
U R right. Even Marcos went wobbly when Viet Nam fell. Duarte resented us looking at them like a little brother. Fact is they were just that. Defending their outlying islands would be a lot harder than fighting the occupying Japanese, something they did magnificently.
The people love us because they’re younger. When Philipino men get old they start living in a dream world.
The Filipinos keep on electing Presidents who say they want a closer relationship with China, and right behind Marcos Jr is his VP, Sara Duterte, daughter of the murderous vigilante. The late President Fidel V Ramos was a very good man, but now he is gone, and his pro-American influence is gone with him.
The Filipinos evidently think that the USA is a declining power, and they want to place their bets on China. I can’t think of a good reason to sacrifice another American life or dollar in their defense. Let them defend themselves if they can.
Clark is completely civilianized these days. It handles all the international and domestic air freight traffic going to Luzon. It is busier now than it has ever been post-Vietnam. Its also taking some of the contract aircraft maintenance (a big business) from Manila.
Passenger traffic is still mainly in Manila, but capacity is still strained. A new airport is breaking ground in Bulacan.
The Philippines gets a lot of commercial air traffic.
Its hard to see how to fit in significant military basing in this area using the old facilities. Some new infrastructure will have to be built, probably very far from Manila.
PAF bases are available all over the country, but capacity of all kinds is quite limited for modern US aircraft. I think especially in-flight refueling operations will be affected. A lot of building out will be required.
War with China will make Ukraine look like a family squabble.
We created the China monster. Shouda used the P.I. instead but Chinese labor is cheaper.. A League of Democracies would have had different outcomes. No UN. Just free nations helping each other. Have nothing to do with the others.
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