Visiting US Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby’s Aug. 10 speech has once more revealed America’s aggressive strategy to preserve its dominance in Asia and drag the Philippines deeper into its own conflict with China.
Colby’s declaration that the US is “not leaving” Asia but is instead “digging in” makes clear that Washington is strengthening and increasing its military foothold in the region, escalating tensions in the process.
His call for burden-sharing is a demand for the Philippines and other Asian countries to buy more weapons from the US at the expense of the people’s basic needs, expand our military capabilities through US patronage at the expense of our sovereignty, and host US forces and war materiel at the expense of our peace and security—all to prepare our territories for a potential US conflict with China.
The Pentagon official’s emphasis on “building partnerships, not dependencies” rings hollow. A genuine partnership requires sovereign equality, independent decision-making, and respect for national self-determination. Yet the US continues to expand its military access and operational presence in the Philippines through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), rotational deployments, joint combat training, and the prepositioning of war materiel, including some of its most advanced weapons systems. Its Pax Silica initiative intends to deepen the country’s dependence on US-dominated supply chains while facilitating the greater plunder of our resources and the economic and physical dislocation of our people.
Its deployment of four US Coast Guard Fast Response Cutters to actively partner with the Philippine Coast Guard in patrolling and securing the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), as announced by Colby, represents a further intensification of US military presence and intervention in Philippine territory and waters. It is a further escalation of the ongoing tension with China.
Rather than strengthening Philippine sovereignty, such deployments deepen the operational integration of US and Philippine security forces and further entrench the Philippines as a platform for US strategic objectives in the region. It drags us deeper into US war machinations.
Colby’s invocation of “deterrence by denial” along the First Island Chain is particularly alarming. The Philippines occupies a critical position in this strategic architecture intended to contain China. Increased militarization makes the Philippines a frontline state and target in a potential armed conflict between the US and China.
Colby’s portrayal of the Marcos Jr. administration as a “model ally” merely affirms the barefaced puppetry of the regime, its willful subordination of the national interests to Washington’s strategic agenda, and its blatant treachery to the Filipino people.
Peace through strength and deterrence by denial is an illusion that Colby is selling to justify increased US military presence and intervention in the region. Genuine regional peace and stability cannot be built through expanded US military deployments, combat-credible exercises, and stockpiling of critical munitions. Washington’s goal of maintaining what Colby states as a “favorable balance of power” is ultimately about preserving US strategic and economic dominance in Asia.
Our maritime and territorial disputes with China, or any other country for that matter, can only be meaningfully addressed through diplomacy guided by an independent foreign policy, not US patronage and warmongering. Peace cannot be built on the scaffold of imperialist intervention and military expansionism.