The Philippines

THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines (pop. 116 million), a Spanish colony from the 1500s until 1898-9 when the US took it over in the Spanish-American War and fought a bloody war against an insurgency of the native Filipinos, is now once again a key US ally in the Pacific according to the US government.

The reason for the rapprochement is China, which the US wants to encircle with allies and bases. The US recently pledged $500 million in new military aid and for access to four additional military bases in the Philippines.

The Philippines became “independent” in 1946, although with strong ties to the US, symbolized by the huge US naval base at Subic Bay, so important in the failed US effort in Vietnam. This base was surrendered by the US in 1992, when there was a brief spasm of Philippine nationalism.

But now the Philippines are back as a link in the US imperial chain, which Pres. Biden has done so much to strengthen. 

Source: The New York Times, 7/30/24