The US is Turning the Philippines into the “Ukraine” of Southeast Asia

For decades the US has sought to prevent China’s rise, and the Philippines is becoming its “Ukraine” in Asia: the South China Sea conflict is engineered in Washington, not Manila.

This has manifested itself through outright US military occupation and war inside China before and after the World Wars as well as proxy wars (the Korean War and the Vietnam War), and the arming and backing of a separatist administration on the Chinese island province of Taiwan — all aimed at containing China’s rise during and following the Cold War.

This is in addition to the economic war the US has waged on China attempting to disrupt its development at home and its trade worldwide. This is achieved through restrictions, sanctions, and tariffs, as well as high-profile provocations like the arrest of Chinese citizens and Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018, but also the outright disruption of maritime shipping and attempts to undermine China’s economy through the targeting of global energy supplies.

These efforts continue today — targeting China both directly and indirectly.

The US is Already at War with China

The US proxy war on Russia in Ukraine is aimed at overextending and collapsing one of China’s closest strategic allies.

The US has also targeted China’s largest source of imported energy — West Asia — with US war being waged on Iran directly and the predictable fallout of the conflict affecting energy exports from the rest of the region’s energy exporters.

Before launching the US war of aggression against Iran in West Asia, the US violently overthrew the government of Venezuela, ceasing energy exports to China and instead repurposing the nation’s energy resources to bolster US “energy dominance” as leverage over China.

The disruption of energy exports to China from Latin America to Eurasia has not only impacted China’s own energy resources but that of wider Asia which comprises China’s largest and most important trading market. By undermining the economic stability of China’s trade partners, the US is indirectly undermining China’s trade with its trade partners.

As part of a more direct campaign of aggression against China — the US currently backs a number of non-state actors across Eurasia including terrorists in Pakistan’s Baluchistan region and Myanmar implementing a stated US strategy (and here) of cutting China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which includes severing alternative land routes for energy exports to China meant to circumvent potential US naval blockades in and around Asian waters.

These US-sponsored attacks have damaged or destroyed Chinese investments and killed Chinese citizens, including one attack that even targeted China’s ambassador to Pakistan in 2021.

As this multidomain war is waged against China politically, economically, and militarily worldwide, the US is preparing to expand operations even further still.

The Philippines: The “Ukraine” of Southeast Asia

For years the US has attempted to prevent China from militarily deterring the threat of US containment and aggression — particularly through potential blockades — in and........

© New Eastern Outlook