Efforts by U.S. to militarize Asia decried

Washington's increased presence in region undermines peace, forum hears

The Philippines must resist moves by the United States to militarize the Asia-Pacific region, analysts say, and that the country should not be used in a proxy war instigated by Washington and its allies.

During a forum organized by the Manila-based think tank Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies on Wednesday, experts criticized the Philippine government's decision to give the U.S. access to four new military sites. The move will reduce the Philippines to being a "military asset "and threatens peace and stability in the region, the forum was told.

Anna Malindog-Uy, the think tank's vice-president for external affairs, said Washington's militarization of Asia, being done at the expense of the Philippines, is meant to preserve "a unipolar world dominated by the U.S." but is now being challenged by the rise of China and other regional powers.

The U.S. aims to preserve its supremacy and exceptionalism, and is "afraid of the peaceful rise" of China and Asia as a whole, she said. With China at the forefront of the rise of Asia, the U.S. is exerting all efforts to preserve its global hegemony at the expense of destroying Asia, Malindog-Uy said.

Expanding U.S. access to Philippine military sites is part of the two countries' Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which was signed in 2014. Malindog-Uy said that Filipinos must say no to the U.S. government's neocolonialism of the Philippines, to the full implementation of the 2014 agreement and to the enhanced U.S.-Philippines joint patrol of the South China Sea, which "is rattling peace and stability of Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region".

Anna Dominique Coseteng, a former Philippine senator, said her country's government should not be blinded by a U.S. pledge to allocate $82 million for infrastructure improvements under the 2014 agreement.

She reminded the audience of how the Philippine Senate voted against the Philippines-U.S. Bases Treaty in 1991, forcing the U.S. to shut down its military bases in the country. Coseteng recalled that the U.S. bases had brought huge social costs, including the rise of prostitution in areas surrounding the military bases, which at that time were located in the northern Philippine provinces of Olongapo and Pampanga.

"Are we going to forget the tragedy, the travesty and the pain that was brought by Clark Air Base (in Pampanga) (and) the Subic Naval Base (in Olongapo) to our country and our people?" Coseteng said.

An increased U.S. military presence in the Philippines will make the country a "springboard to attack other countries", she said.

The forum on Wednesday came two days after Manila accused China of targeting a Philippine Coast Guard vessel with a laser on Feb 6. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, said the vessel intruded into waters off the Ren'ai Reef without Chinese permission, and that the Chinese Coast Guard acted in a professional and restrained way. China and the Philippines were communicating about the matter through diplomatic channels, he said.

On Tuesday China's Ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, met the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. They exchanged views on how to implement the consensus reached by the countries' two heads of state, strengthen dialogue and communication, and properly manage maritime differences between the two countries.

Henry Chan, a research fellow at the think tank Integrated Development Studies Institute in Manila, said disputes involving the South China Sea are a major issue among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Indonesia, this year's ASEAN chair, has said it is ready to host negotiations on a code of conduct in the South China Sea.

"Having a good relationship with China is in the long-term permanent interest of the Philippines. You cannot change your neighbor."