VFA with the Philippines important to US interests in the SCS and Taiwan – Rand Corp.

A Screenshot of the Rand Corp.'s Article titled, "If U.S. Forces have to leave the Philippines, then what?"

This article by the Rand Corp. is very, very revealing, everybody should read it. This is a MUST READ article about the importance of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) to the interests of the United States (US) in the region.

It’s funny that while US President Donald Trump shrugged off President Rodrigo Duterte’s termination of the VFA between the Philippines and US, the American Think Tank Rand Corp. goes out and enumerates how important the VFA is to protect certain US interests in the region.

Trump said, “thank you very much, we saved a lot of money”, and but Rand says that without the VFA, it will be more difficult for the US to protect its interests in the South China Sea (SCS) and Taiwan.

Rand says for example that without the Philippines, the nearest base or staging area for the US to the SCS will be Okinawa in Japan which is 1,600 km away. And to go to the SCS from Okinawa, US forces will have to pass thru foreign airspace around Taiwan and thus come within range of China’s missiles.

US forces can use Guam instead to go to the SCS without worrying about China’s missiles, but it is 3,200 km away, much further compared to Okinawa.

Rand also cites US interests in Taiwan (which the US has vowed to protect) which is nearer to US Bases in Japan and South Korea, but relying on those two bases for logistical purposes to Taiwan in case of war would create logistical bottlenecks.

If the US has access to Taiwan from the Philippines, then those logistical bottlenecks will be minimized.

The VFA of course also protects the interests of the Philippines thru the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), but clearly with the VFA, the US is not only helping the Philippines but its own interests in the SCS and Taiwan.

Of course the big question is here why single out the Philippines, it is not the only country around the SCS. There are other Countries around the SCS like Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, why can’t the US do an MDT with them with a VFA?

I think the reason is because the US relations with those countries is not as good as with the Philippines, at least not good enough for the US to convince them for an MDT with VFA.

The US has a good following in the Philippines, thanks to us being a former Colony of theirs and being inundated with Pro-American Propaganda. Even the Opposition and the Philippine Press are rabidly Pro-US.

The VFA/MDT does protect also some of the Philippine interests at least as much as it does US interests, but that protection is conditional or limited as the US does NOT recognize the Philippines’ territorial claims in the SCS.

And remember that it seems the US can only do the VFA/MDT with us, not with any other country in South East Asia (SEA) near the SCS and Taiwan.

With that in mind, maybe we should be asking for more money from the US for a VFA, money that should be used directly for the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

And there should be no strings attached on how that money should be spent, the AFP should be able to buy with it wherever it wants to, not just from American Defense manufacturers.

SOURCE: If U.S. Forces have to leave the Philippines, then what? {Archived Link}

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