>

China was the one which forced and pushed to a corner, for example the Philippines to return to the US.
China kept on bullying, threatening, driving away local fishermen who have been fishing there all their lives since their ancestors, stealing small islands and fishing waters, even illegally building and reclaiming, with their fake 9-dash line maps even when there are older maps predating their bogus claim, even losing to the Hague.
Not a fan of Marcos but I’m glad that he’s taking a proactive role in this and undoing all of Duterte’s ass-kissing with China. All of Southeast and East Asia needs to come together and unite against their common enemy; Winnie the Pooh and the CCP. >

I mean, South Korea + Japan + India + Philippines out-army and out-spend China last I checked. 
The world is so weird, on one hand we keep feeding the military-industrous-complex like how France+Uk+Germany alone outspend russia 6:1, let alone if you add the US. 
If I wasn't so sure greed is a huge factor I'd begin to believe it was all just the illuminati feeding the military-monster and keeping the masses occupied by fear and other problems. >

Flat currency spending means fuck all, and I wish people could grasp that.
Japanese privates make the equivalent of $1500 a month. Their Chinese counterpart makes $100 a month. The same goes for shipyard workers, aerospace fabricators, etc. 
China and Russian costs of living are dramatically lower than that of their adversaries, which means their spending goes further. 2000 Japanese soldiers are $36M a year. 2000 Chinese soldiers are $2.4M a year. 30,000 Chinese soldiers are $36M a year...
Same spending, but which is stronger? And even if they were equal in terms of manning, that's $33.6M China has to spend on hardware that Japan doesn't...
This is why flat currency comparisons is such a useless and ignorant utility that it does more harm than good >

Dudes who will work for $100 month are going to be shit. How is populating their military with low or unpaid knuckleheads working out for Russia?
A $100 Chinese soldier doesn't go toe to toe with a real military. More people and more force doesn't scale linearly. More people do make for more complicated/expensive supply lines.
If China needs to come up with 15x the supplies, weapons, etc to have maybe an equal force to peers, that's not an advantage. You can print more money but you can't unlose wars. >

That's what they're saying, that $100 a month in China ISN'T low or unpaid. Cost of living is drastically different so you can't compare spending like that. >

Excellent. The US and Philippines just recently agreed upon at least 9 bases at last since fter around 3 decades. A formal alliance of hopefully finally JP, PH, US, AUS, and SK should be made. >

The US has been using 3 bases since 5-8 years ago and has been visiting and training Filipinos since 2001 after 9/11. So other than the 10 year period during the 90s, American presence in the Philippines never left >

Yeah but weakened ever since the 90s, we had the biggest Naval Base in the Philippines. But Pinatubo Mountain wasn't too keen on keeping it there
Edit: corrected Volcano name >

Huh, my next trip to the Philippines I will be scuba diving at apo island. Its very small are you sure it had a huge military base there? >

Mt. Apo is the highest mountain in PH, located in Mindanao. A different entity from Apo island. >

Okay, that makes way more sense, but I have always heard Mindanao wasn't safe for Americans or tourists in general, but I have met. American scuba divers who lived there as expats and said it was completely safe for them.
The Philippines is the best place to go scuba diving by far. I had a blast every trip I have taken. >

The eastern part of Mindanao is generally safe. Siargao, where plenty of foreign tourists go to, is located there. >

Oh, okay, that is where Siargao is. I have family in Cebu. And also have close friends who are scuba instructors on Malapascua Island. But they also do live aboards to Bohol, Southern Leyte, Dumaguette, and Apo Island. >

It is great that SE Asia seems to finally be unifying against the common threat to all of them.  Fuck Xi. >

Indeed, this coincides with US support and other recent agreements.

News of the bilateral RAA follows an agreement by Washington and Manila, which also boosts military cooperation. On Thursday (Feb. 2), it was announced that U.S. forces will be granted expanded access to military bases throughout the Philippines.
In addition to the agreement between the JSDF and the AFP, there are at least six other pacts that are also expected to be signed at Thursday’s meeting between the two leaders, reported the Inquirer. They include several loan agreements related to railroad infrastructure in the Philippines as well as an agreement related to “information and communications technology” and a memorandum of cooperation on agriculture. >

Japan, Philippine, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, and the other countries that's getting shafted by China's imaginary sea lines should all cooperate their naval forcers >

Funny thing is, the Current PH president would have sucked CCP all the way to balls  like the previous President if China had not consistently acted on bad faith for all the trust he gave them.
The new admin is stuck with almost nothing to good to work on and  tons to amend for all the damage his predecessor left.
And He can't even blame anyone cause his popularity is 100% dependent on the Cult of the previous.
So yeah, after that shit show about saying goodbye to the US and cancelling the Visiting Forces Agreement, PH is slowly going back to where it was. >

And that assumption is based on what? 
FEM was pro US. BBM is trying to be like his dad. Also duterte and marcos are not really on good terms. It doesn’t follow that bbm would continue the foreign policy of duterte especially that they weren’t deep rooted allies to begin with. >


FEM was pro US. BBM is trying to be like his dad.

Ironic since Marcos is banned from entering the US, and can only enter when he got elected due to diplomatic immunity. >

It is. But im just glad he’s smart enough to see how China is a shitty ally lol >

What?  The US bases have been on the Philippines for about a century. >

the permanent US bases (Clark and Subic) pulled out in the early 90s >

Mr Marcos Jr appears more pro America. Probably got more incentives from White House than last guy.  Taiwan Chiang KS great-grandson if running for President could be China friendly again. >

The family is definitely more pro-Western especially since they spent a decade in exile in Hawaii after getting ousted in 1985 >

We must stand together agains't fascism. We have more cause to stick together than to yell at each other. >

Do you know anything about the current president of the Philippines? Or the LPD? (Liberal Democratic Party) >

Essentially, he is the son of the late dictator who effectively suspended elections for 20ish yrs (more or less?) and did all the standard dictator stuff like kill opposition, no freedom of press, corruption, and etc. >

Anyone have a better source handy? This particular one is worse than the Daily Mail, especially regarding China. >

I am really wondering how the world will react if it happens. Will western countries actually block off China from any trade, political affairs, etc or will the world do nothing? >

I think it would be a US supplying a nearby country to help Tw defend itself. 
Like all US involvements in arming countries and supporting regions..I can't see this going well for anyone living there in the long run. Escalation continues..you force China into a corner like Russia feels with NATO (not saying this is the cause of justification for war). 
All geopolitics with one side and the other going tit for tat doesn't bode well for any citizens.