the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
May 1, 2023
The U.S. government continues to build up its military presence in Asia. The U.S. military just recently conducted joint military war games in the Philippines. Over 12,000 U.S. troops, along with 5,400 Filipino troops, conducted the largest joint military exercise since they started 38 years ago.
These joint exercises were another major step toward increasing the U.S. military presence in the Philippines. A few months ago, it was announced that the U.S. military would now have access to four new military staging areas in the northern Philippines—three areas facing Taiwan, and one area facing the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, it was also recently announced that U.S. attack submarines, armed with nuclear weapons, will now be allowed into ports in South Korea—for the first time in 40 years. And the U.S. will also be conducting expanded military war game drills in South Korea.
Why is the U.S. government carrying out this military escalation? While citing the need to protect Taiwan, the U.S. military build-ups in the Philippines are clearly aimed against the Chinese regime, which claims Taiwan as being historically part of China. The U.S. government said its military moves into South Korea are to protect that country against attacks from North Korea. But they are also similarly meant to threaten nearby China, which is allied with the North Korean regime.
These latest moves by the U.S. government just add to the increasing U.S. military presence in the countries that surround China, including U.S. troops and bases in Japan and Guam, and U.S. warships patrolling off the coast of China in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile in the U.S., the U.S. government and the media every day beat the drums of war against China. While there are no Chinese troops or Chinese bases threatening this country, the U.S. government and media feed us propaganda that is aimed at convincing the population and the working class that somehow China is a threat, that the Chinese people are our enemy. This propaganda is aimed at convincing people to support a possible war against China.
A war against China would only be in the interests of U.S. capitalists who want to increase their profits-making ability in that region of the world. The war that they may be preparing would not be in the interests of the working class—workers here, or workers in China, or workers anywhere in the world.