Philippines warned 'US satellite-like' status puts it under Putin's nuclear cross hairs

Opposition leaders in the Philippines have warned that President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr's security alliance with the United States is helping to push the world to "the brink of a renewed nuclear arms race" after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned US weapon systems in the Southeast Asian country could lead to Moscow's missile deployments abroad.

However, proponents of the alliance argue that it is a necessary response to aggressive moves by countries such as China and North Korea and that countries like Russia should "not meddle" when it comes to the Philippines defending its territory.

Putin called for the resumption of missile production during a televised address in which he also raised the possibility of deploying missiles outside Russia, noting that the US had sent missile systems to other countries.

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"Today, it is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems but has already brought them to Europe for exercises, to Denmark. Quite recently, it was announced that they are in the Philippines," the Russian leader said during a televised address on Friday.

A US Typhon Weapon System, which is capable of firing SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, with operational ranges of more than 240km (150 miles) and 2,500km, respectively, was deployed to the Philippines in April for use in the annual Balikatan joint military exercises with the US.

The Philippine military has not confirmed whether the Typhon remains deployed in the country or for how long.

Marcos Jnr has embraced Washington in his foreign policy, giving the US access to four more Philippine military sites under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a pact that allows for large-scale joint military exercises, regular troop rotations and the pre-positioning of associated defence material, equipment and supplies.

Former lawmaker Carlos Isagani Zarate of the party list Bayan Muna said the government's "US satellite-like foreign policy" under Marcos Jnr "has contributed to bringing the world to the brink of a renewed nuclear arms race."

The president's security alliance with the US could make the Philippines a potential target for nuclear attacks from countries like Russia, Zarate argued.

"We demand that the Marcos ... administration abide by the constitutional edicts of pursuing an independent foreign policy and making the Philippines free of nuclear arms and foreign troops," he said in a statement.

Aside from Zarate, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has accused his successor of allowing the country to be "used" by the United States in its geopolitical rivalry with Beijing.

At the nationwide National Day of Protest Rally held in Tacloban City, Duterte, who has called Chinese President Xi Jinping a "very close friend", said the Philippines' pro-US policy was the main reason for increased tensions in the West Philippine Sea - Manila's term for the section of the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone.

"We were not fighting with China before. We were free to fish in and out of the area, nobody was bugging us and there was no issue of territory. We were not molested, we were there to fish, to make a living. It only happens when a leader changes his strategy," said Duterte.

"I don't know if I would tell the story behind it but I'm sure you know it well. The Philippines was used by the US and the Philippines allowed itself to be used. But it is what it is, every leader has a different strategy," he added.

Asked whether he thought the US missile system deployment in the Philippines was a destabilising act contributing to a global arms race, Jose Antonio Custodio, a defence analyst and fellow at the Consortium of Indo-Pacific Researchers, said Beijing has stepped up its aggressive moves, which prompted Manila and Washington to take countermeasures.

"China is heavily militarising the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea. Furthermore, it has made threatening moves against Taiwan. Meanwhile, North Korea continues to destabilise the region with its missiles and nuclear capability," Custodio told This Week in Asia.

He said that critics of the Manila-Washington security alliance "do not take that into consideration".

"They always blame the US and the Philippines for defensive actions taken against Chinese aggression," Custodio added, referring to the position of some Filipino politicians, including Duterte.

Manila is facing an unprovoked territorial grab from China, according to Custodio.

"It is the responsibility of the Philippine government to defend the national sovereignty of the country against aggression initiated by China. To do nothing is capitulation and become a vassal state of Beijing," Custodio said.

Francis Escudero, the senate's president, said the Typhon system Putin was referring to was likely used as a part of the Philippines' military exercises.

"Russia should not have anything to do with our country having its military capability, including a missile system. That is ours and other countries should not meddle," he told reporters.

For the past few months, Manila and Beijing have been locked in an increasingly contentious territorial row in the South China Sea, with the latest skirmish on June 17 involving the Philippine Navy and Chinese coastguard at the disputed Second Thomas Shoal. Several Filipino sailors were injured during the incident, with one suffering a severed thumb. The Philippine side was attempting to resupply troops stationed on a military outpost at the shoal.

The Marcos Jnr administration has so far refused to invoke the country's Mutual Defence Treaty (MDT) with the US, saying Manila still prefers to resolve the dispute with China diplomatically.

The Philippines and the US are bound by MDT, signed in 1951, which obligates both sides to help each other in the event of an attack on either side by an external power.

Last week, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin III reaffirmed to his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro Jnr, of Washington's "ironclad" commitment to defend Manila during a phone conversation.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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