South China Sea tensions have Filipino leaders hoping the US Navy returns to Subic Bay

WaPo, via Stars & Stripes ^ | May 18, 2015 | Will Englund

[TYVets]

They wanted us out, so we left.

Now they are crying wolf

[Former Proud Canadian]

""We thought it was a stab in the back by China, taking advantage of our loss of the security umbrella provided by the United States," Rafael Alunan, a former interior secretary, told a group of visiting journalists on Monday."

Well what in blazes did you think was going to happen? What do you think a "security umbrella" is?

[AppyPappy]

Screw ‘em. I say we barter for Cam Ranh Bay

[Red Badger]

Didn’t the Vietnamese offer us DaNang and Cam Ranh Bay back?...................

[KC_Conspirator]

"We thought it was a stab in the back by China, taking advantage of our loss of the security umbrella provided by the United States," Rafael Alunan, a former interior secretary, told a group of visiting journalists on Monday.

Well there liberal moron, what did you expect from communists? Honesty?

[Red Badger]

Now they are crying TIGER!.....................

[Duckdog]

Was there, did that , got the t-shirt. Now Clark is some sort of enterprise zone making money. I don’t know how though. Any time the U.S. turned a building over to the locals. every thing worth any money was removed and sold. I mean anything: doors, windows, wiring.

[ifinnegan]

Why too bad?

Are you against going back?

[Red Badger]

Just think.........The Philippines could have been a STATE!.........

[DPMD]

I don’t know for certain, but I’m not sure they ever paid for our services. Ferdinand Marcos was notorious for constantly raising the “rent” he charged for the military bases there, and always threatened eviction in favor of accepting more money from China.

[DPMD]

In the new obama military, it’s just possible the benny boys may be the ones in uniform.

[Timber Rattler]

Yes, I am against going back. The Filipinos wanted the U.S. out and they got what they demanded. Now, they can reap the whirlwind.

[Billthedrill]

Oh, no. My, no. I was there in the 70's and 80's and heard every insult and calumny possible in the papers covering the Filipino Senate debates. Was very disappointed in some politicians I though were our friends.

We had real Filipino friends, many of whom knew what would happen when the fleet left. Their Manila bosses told them they'd service the Chinese commercial fleets with the gear we left them. The Chinese wouldn't pay them what the U.S. did, and why should they, with Chinese shipworkers making a couple bucks a day tops? End of story.

Clark's pretty much done for, but we had nothing to do with it, Pinatubo did. The infrastructure elsewhere constructed over decades has been systematically looted right down to the copper wires. There just isn't all that much to come back to.

It was, as might be expected, a lot of politicians in Manila with red t-shirts and loud mouths and radical chic that ended the relationship. As usual, they let other people pay the price of their vainglory and vanity. They're still around. Let them police their own damn region.

[ifinnegan]

So you base your opinion on what they want, or wanted, or to be spiteful.

I contrast this to doing what is best for the US.

I would ask what is the best place for the US to have a base there.

I am not going to base opinions of what is best on whether or not someone threw a hissy fit in the past.

You see what I mean?

[Wuli]

If the Philippines had had some real visionary, and yet strong leader, like South Korea had sometimes, the occasion of the U.S. departure would have been grasped as an opportunity for industrialization, like in ship building; with Subic one of the largest deep water ports in Asia, and with the tons of available skilled ship maintenance and repair labor after years of keeping-up the U.S. 7th fleet at its Subic facilities.

But no; Philippine politicians and business leaders mismanaged Subic’s potential and as a result the role of shipbuilding in the Philippines (which IS growing) is now led by Hanjin of Korea and others from Japan. Shipbuilding in the Philippines is now ahead of Europe, but its leaders are foreign based.

[rottndog]

The Philippines need us, and we need the Philippines, regardless of how short sighted they have been in the past.

But what’s best for the US here is the Philippines developing an adequate defensive military capability of their own.

We are still in Japan....but they get the threat of China, and are expanding their defenses accordingly.

We can’t stand up to China ourselves...it has to be a regional effort. If the PI refuses to move in the same direction, I don’t see how our mere presence there will really help in the long run.

[Hot Tabasco]

I still say Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was either accidentally or purposely shot down by Chinese fighter jets........

[CJ Wolf]

Subic bay had some great diving off grande. shame about the coins.

[Hot Tabasco]

Too bad.

Never thought I'd hear support for the communist Chinese on this website......

There has been a long standing dispute in the South China Sea over the Spratley Islands between China and the independent nations of Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philipines and Vietnam.

China wants total control over that area due to the vast oil reserves and abundant food sources which would not only feed their people but make them totally self sufficient in oil production..........

You may not like the Philippines for whatever personal reason but there's a much larger picture involved and only the U.S. Navy can deter the increasing aggression of the Chinese Coast Guard in that area of the world.......

[Solson]

We absolutely need, and the Philippines need a US presence. Yep, they didn't want us before. Now, they need our presence and we need to be relevant in the South China Sea again.

I was in Manila in January. The people are very friendly to Americans and their history shows a common bond between us and them. We are the only country to come into the Philippines and not take them over.

It's time to go back. Demand the price and the infrastructure. It will create a better economy over there and the US gets what they need as do the Philippines.