"...While we denounce Chinese incursion into our territory, we must equally condemn US imperialist intervention which imperils the Philippines by bringing it on the verge of a war against China." -- Jorge Madlos, NDFP- Mindanao Spokesperson

Chinese incursion in West Philippine Sea, US military intervention both impinge on Filipino sovereignty; dispute should be resolved in an international tribunal

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines - Mindanao views the incursion of China in the West Philippine Sea, particularly in the Scarborough Shoal, as an infringement on the sovereign right and patrimony of the Filipino people. The Chinese government must immediately desist from taking injurious steps against the integrity of the Filipino people.

We recognize, however, that it has been imbued upon the collective consciousness of the Chinese people that the West Philippine Sea is part of China, as much as Filipinos strongly believe that it is part of the Philippines. Thus, what is at stake here is the very integrity of both peoples. The answer to this inter-territorial dispute, therefore, is not war, but rather a diplomatic political solution between two countries in a third-party international tribunal.

It is for this reason that we condemn the military solution foisted by the US-Aquino regime, the pro-imperialist Akbayan special agents, and other rabid war mongers within the reactionary state. These war mongers shamelessly spread an anti-China hysteria that is engineered to drum up a military solution by upgrading the military capability of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and worse, insist on US military intervention.

Undeniably, Imperialist US and the Chinese reactionary state have both oppressed and exploited both the Chinese and the Filipino peoples for over three decades. In the Philippines, Chinese big bourgeoisie like Henry Sy and Lucio Tan have connived with imperialist US to plunder our environment and exploit Filipino workers. The Scarborough Shoal standoff is but symptomatic of their corporate greed, just a scratch to their decades-long plunder and exploitation.

Adding to the tension in the standoff in Scarborough Shoal, the recently concluded Balikatan exercises (US-RP joint military exercises), which was participated in by 4,500 US troops, and military contingents from seven other countries, sent a serious message to China that US imperialist power, in collusion with the Philippine reactionary government, is capable of engaging against those that threaten US hegemony in Southeast Asia.

Despite the “hands-off” policy expressed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a recent meeting between the US and the reactionary Philippine governments, US imperialist power clearly continues with its strategy of “containment and engagement” to hinder China from aggressively expanding in Southeast Asian territories by maintaining the forward deployment of US military forces in the region and providing military aid to its Philippine client state.

Historically, US military forces have never been known to defend the sovereign right of the Filipino people, but only to protect US imperialist interests in Asia and the Pacific. In fact, US imperialism owes the Filipino people blood debts for over a century of oppression and exploitation, and its continued intervention has dragged the country into bloody wars. Thus, while we denounce Chinese incursion into our territory, the Filipino people must equally if not more strongly condemn US imperialist intervention as shown in its direct troop presence in Mindanao and in other parts of our country, which imperils the Philippines by bringing it on the verge of a war against China.

We must not be dragged into war on account of the West Philippine Sea dispute and become a helpless war theater for two of the biggest and most aggressive competing world powers, only to be used as a platform for their hegemonic conquest. If we recall, during World War II, the then emergent imperialist Japan attacked the Philippines because the US’s largest armament in Asia is stationed in the country, and, in turn, the Philippines also became a launch pad of Japan in occupying Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, and Thailand. We cannot allow the horrors of this history to repeat itself.

We call on the Filipino people to collectively push for a diplomatic solution that will address the West Philippine Sea dispute in an international tribunal. Expose and oppose the war mongers in the US-Aquino regime who use the Scarborough Shoal dispute to serve the ulterior motive of its US imperialist master for the control and domination of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Alongside our condemnation of China’s incursion into Scarborough Shoal, we must defy continued US troop presence and forward military deployment because these not only impinge on our sovereign right but, worse, drag the nation to the brink of an unjust war as well.