The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today rejected calls for greater US involvement in the dispute in the South China Sea, saying that the move will complicate matters and may lead to the heightening of tension between China and the US.
"Sen. John McCain, a champion of US aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, now wants the US to undertake more aggressive measures in Southeast Asia. The Philippine government should be critical of his proposals. US intervention in the Spratlys dispute will only complicate the issue and will pit the US versus China in a battle between superpowers. Countries like the Philippines will end up like pawns for the US," said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
"There's also a hint of arrogance in McCain's speech when he said that it was time to make it known whose side the US is on. It is the mindset of a nation that tries to act as a global police in order to push its own geopolitical agenda," he added.
At a recent conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, McCain said that the US should let "other countries know, where possible, which claims the United States accepts, which ones we do not, and what actions we are prepared to support."
"The US is not advancing the agenda of the ASEAN nor its member countries. The US only cares for its own economic and political agenda. McCain wants to impose the US agenda on the ASEAN by taking advantage of the dispute between China and some ASEAN member countries like the Philippines," Reyes said.
"The US hopes to expand its military presence in the region through the use of bilateral and multilateral military exercises as well as the use of bilateral military agreements such as the Visiting Forces or Status of Forces Agreements with ASEAN members. The US will use the dispute so it can advance its own agenda of containing China," he added.
Bayan called on the Aquino government to uphold an independent foreign policy and to reject US intervention in the Spratlys dispute. "The Aquino government cannot go on tugging at the coat tails of Uncle Sam every time there is a territorial dispute with China. We have to assert our claims through all available diplomatic means, independently as a nation," Reyes said.
