đź“·US President Donald Trump holds a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 28, 2025. (AFP)
The televised meeting between US President Donald Trump, his vice president, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should disabuse Filipinos of the thinking that the US authorities are sincere in their avowed “ironclad commitment” to defend the country from foreign invaders.
The US government is ready to deploy troops, escalate conflict, and initiate proxy wars to strategically promote its geopolitical agenda even at the cost of undermining the sovereignty of other nations. It can also abandon its so-called allies if it thinks that it will favor the greedy interests of Big Business and their cronies in the US.
Since coming to power in 2022, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr has pivoted closer to the US by citing the country’s maritime dispute with China to justify the expansion of US military presence and operations across the Philippines. He even allowed the intensified meddling of the US military such as large-scale provocative military exercises, deployment of Typhon missile launcher, and the establishment of a combined coordination center inside Camp Aguinaldo.
Marcos Jr claims that these actions are necessary to boost our security and defenses even if they are really aimed at supporting the agenda of the US government, which seeks to contain China and preserve its hegemony as a global superpower. Marcos Jr and the US government have maliciously connived in legitimizing the colonial narrative that a permanent US military presence is needed to secure the country’s borders.
The recent Trump-Zelenskyy meeting confirms our assertion that the US military is not a benign power, and that the US government only considers its own interest in dealing with other countries.
Instead of merely parroting the security doctrine of the US, the Philippine government should pursue an independent foreign policy. Instead of doing the dirty work of the US by dragging the country into a proxy war of global superpowers, the Philippine government should exhaust all peaceful and diplomatic means to resolve our conflict with China.
As Trump continues to destabilize the world with his mad antics, we reiterate our call for the immediate removal of US bases, the expulsion of US troops, and the cancellation of onerous military deals. Upholding our sovereignty and dignity as a nation trumps all other considerations, and this includes the rejection of the corrupt and mendicant foreign policy of the Marcos Jr presidency. #
