Cancel Balikatan and all war exercises in Asia and the Pacific; US troops out of Asia and the Pacific
By: Resist US-Led War Campaign Asia-Pacific
Date: April 30
Date: April 30
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The US and the Philippines are conducting military exercises that will also include troops from Japan and Australia. Close to 10,000 combined military personnel will participate in the exercises, marking this as the biggest war exercise in the Philippines to date. The US Armed Forces (USAF) continue to ramp up its Indo-Pacific pivot, including their military operations in Asia and the Pacific, with other war exercises in Indonesia (Garuda Shield), South Korea (Freedom Shield), and Australia (Talisman Sabre). These exercise areas fall within the First Island Chain, a component of US war strategy in the Asia-Pacific region that aims to engage and contain China. This escalation of war preparations follows the US war of aggression and intervention against Venezuela and Iran.
The USAF conduct these ongoing and planned war exercises in the Asia-Pacific region to justify their largest war budget in history. Capitalizing on this record-breaking war budget, hot wars and sabre-rattling serve as excellent opportunities for US defense companies to inflate profits, while US taxpayers fund billions of dollars in contracts for firms like Boeing, Raytheon, Palantir, and Lockheed Martin. Similarly, the involvement of the Japan Self-Defense Force (SDF) allows the Japanese government to sell its largest defense bill—amounting to $58 billion—to Japanese taxpayers.
These exercises impose an intense economic toll on the people of the Philippines. In the military exercise areas, military authorities establish no-go zones that prevent farmers, fisherfolk and other working people from accessing their farms and sailing to their fishing grounds. These restrictions cramp an already meager livelihood, worsening the plight of communities reeling from the economic shock triggered by the US and Israel's war of aggression against Iran. Philippine taxpayers foot the bill for the Balikatan war exercises, adding another layer of financial burden to the backs of working people submerged by multiple taxes, including value-added tax on goods and services and excise tax on oil products.
These exercises involve the US Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), both notorious for their human rights records. The US Armed Forces back the genocide by Zionist Israel against the people of Palestine; they also bombed Iran and murdered more than 100 schoolgirls in Minab. The AFP remain mired in massacres against the people of the Philippines. Recently, elements of the AFP murdered scores of civilians in cold blood on Negros Island in the Philippines, including students, a journalist, and two US citizens among the victims.
The Resist US-led War in Asia and the Pacific Campaign calls for the immediate cancellation of Balikatan and other military exercises between the US and the Philippines, the cancellation of Garuda Shield exercises in Indonesia, cancellation of Freedom Shield in South Korea, and the cancellation of Talisman Sabre war exercises in Australia. We reiterate our demand for the removal of all US troops and war materiel from Asia and the Pacific. We call for peace in our region and resistance against the US-led war of aggression and intervention aimed at the people of Asia and the Pacific.
The USAF conduct these ongoing and planned war exercises in the Asia-Pacific region to justify their largest war budget in history. Capitalizing on this record-breaking war budget, hot wars and sabre-rattling serve as excellent opportunities for US defense companies to inflate profits, while US taxpayers fund billions of dollars in contracts for firms like Boeing, Raytheon, Palantir, and Lockheed Martin. Similarly, the involvement of the Japan Self-Defense Force (SDF) allows the Japanese government to sell its largest defense bill—amounting to $58 billion—to Japanese taxpayers.
These exercises impose an intense economic toll on the people of the Philippines. In the military exercise areas, military authorities establish no-go zones that prevent farmers, fisherfolk and other working people from accessing their farms and sailing to their fishing grounds. These restrictions cramp an already meager livelihood, worsening the plight of communities reeling from the economic shock triggered by the US and Israel's war of aggression against Iran. Philippine taxpayers foot the bill for the Balikatan war exercises, adding another layer of financial burden to the backs of working people submerged by multiple taxes, including value-added tax on goods and services and excise tax on oil products.
These exercises involve the US Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), both notorious for their human rights records. The US Armed Forces back the genocide by Zionist Israel against the people of Palestine; they also bombed Iran and murdered more than 100 schoolgirls in Minab. The AFP remain mired in massacres against the people of the Philippines. Recently, elements of the AFP murdered scores of civilians in cold blood on Negros Island in the Philippines, including students, a journalist, and two US citizens among the victims.
The Resist US-led War in Asia and the Pacific Campaign calls for the immediate cancellation of Balikatan and other military exercises between the US and the Philippines, the cancellation of Garuda Shield exercises in Indonesia, cancellation of Freedom Shield in South Korea, and the cancellation of Talisman Sabre war exercises in Australia. We reiterate our demand for the removal of all US troops and war materiel from Asia and the Pacific. We call for peace in our region and resistance against the US-led war of aggression and intervention aimed at the people of Asia and the Pacific.