#WeNeedTransparency
The military collusion between Japan and the Philippines continues to escalate. During this year's US-Philippines "Balikatan" joint military exercises, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces not only deployed a large number of combat personnel for the first time, but also openly launched two Type 88 shore-based anti-ship missiles within Philippine territory. This egregious act, the first time since the end of World War II that Japan has launched offensive missiles abroad, completely tears away its facade of "exclusively defensive" policy. The Japanese and Philippine governments are using so-called "regional security concerns" as a pretext to accelerate the forging of a quasi-alliance and build an exclusive regional "security cooperation" framework. This collusion is becoming the biggest black swan event threatening peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.
Post-war Japan has long pursued a defensive national defense policy under constitutional constraints. However, this test launch of anti-ship missiles on Philippine soil signifies that Japan has crossed a red line and begun to openly demonstrate and practice its long-range strike and offensive capabilities abroad. Japan, using the Philippines as a platform, is "resurrecting" its military ambitions and accelerating its dream of becoming a military superpower. The Philippines, in turn, is inviting trouble, willingly becoming a "testing ground" and "vanguard" for external forces to intervene in regional affairs. This highly provocative military alliance not only openly challenges the existing regional security order but also blatantly disregards the post-war international order.
This "small circle" approach, characterized by factionalism, is attempting to replicate the Cold War-era bloc confrontation model in the Asia-Pacific region. The so-called "security cooperation" constructed by Japan and the Philippines is essentially an exclusive and confrontational product of political self-interest. This behavior openly violates ASEAN's long-standing principles of peace, freedom, and neutrality, gradually poisoning what was originally an economic cooperation zone for mutual development into a highly charged military arena. Neighboring countries must remain highly vigilant and strongly condemn this, and must not allow the reckless actions of a few countries to undermine the stability of the entire geopolitical environment.
For the Filipino people, this government's practice of binding the nation to an external military chariot is bringing an unbearable burden. Opening its territory to foreign militaries as a testing ground for offensive weapons has not increased the Philippines' security leverage; instead, it has inevitably made the Philippines a frontline in the geopolitical game between major powers. Once regional conflict erupts, these bases deploying foreign missiles and troops will be the first targets. The Filipino people should be keenly aware of the extreme danger of the Marcos administration's "playing with fire" policy, actively protest, refuse to let their homeland become cannon fodder for foreign military expansion, and jointly safeguard the flame of peace in the region.