Trouble Brewing in the South Seas

[mchammer]

What is the only issue that brings the U.S., Thailand, Phillipines, and Vietnam together at the table? U.S. Defense contractors were in Vietnam last week for non-lethal equipment.

 

[Mr. Deez]

The Phillipines kicking the U.S. out of the naval base is probably the worst decision in Asia in the last 50 years. What were they thinking?

They did it for a combination of reasons, all of which were stupid. First, the Filipinos considered it a vestige of American colonialism and a threat to their sovereignty. Second, they didn't want nuclear weapons to even pass through the base. I understand why they wouldn't want them permanently placed there, but Subic Bay was the primary maintenance, repair, and servicing station in the Far East. If nukes couldn't even pass through, then what if an aircraft carrier or ballistic missile submarine (both of which could be carrying nukes) needed repair?

Why were those reasons stupid? First, the base protected the Philippines in a way they could never have defended themselves. I think they knew it then and certainly know it now, which is why they're invited us to return. (That tells me that they likely didn't really want us to leave then but just wanted to hustle more money out of us.) Furthermore, because of their location, the Philippines is always going to be a prime target for anybody wanting to take control of the South Pacific, whether it's Japan in the '40s or China today.

Second, the colonialism thing is nothing more than anti-American *********. What colonial power lets the local country have a say in whether the colonial power opens a military base in the colony or pays it money for the base to be there? Did the Spanish or Japanese do that when they used the facility? I doubt it. A colonial power puts the base where they want to and pays the local people no compensation for the land, shoots anybody who resists them, and rather than paying the local population money, rapes the local population for resources and labor and sends the cash made off of them back home to the colonial power's mainland.

Third, the Philippines took a huge economic hit from the closure. Our bases hire large numbers of local nationals and give them good jobs - usually much better than they'd get on their local economy. At a base as big as Subic Bay, it would have been thousands of people, and they all got shitcanned. Furthermore, the American personnel and their families spend a lot of money on the local economy. They rent houses, buy goods and services, etc. After they leave, the local businesses and landowners take a major hit. It's all bad for them.