Fight Back News Service is circulating the following June 28 statement from the Communist Party of Philippines.

The Communist Party of the Philippines and the Filipino people condemn the entry and the docking in Manila of nuclear-powered super-aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, along with Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville last June 26 for a supposed four-day “regularly scheduled port visit.”

The CPP denounces the Duterte regime for conniving with the US military and allowing it to use the Philippines as a foothold in its push to defend its hegemonic power in the Asia-Pacific. The Duterte regime could not even ensure compliance with the 1987 constitutional ban against nuclear weapons in the country.

The USS Ronald Reagan arrived in the Philippines after sailing through the South China Sea. Prior to proceeding to Manila, warships belonging to the aircraft fleet sailed near the contentious waters this year provoking Chinese military forces in the area. Some of the other US port visits made this year include:

February 16 – Aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy arrived in Manila carrying more than 5,500 US sailors

March 1 – Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Bremerton arrived at the Subic Bay Freeport

March 4 – Amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, with embarked 3d Marine Division Marines, arrived in Manila, carrying more than 2,500 US sailors

April 11 – Aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its 65 supersonic F18 jets, spy planes and helicopters, along with embarked Carrier Air Wing 17, and guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill arrived in Manila

These port visits are in fact brazen power projection operations meant to assert US military might in this region. By bringing in warships, high-powered aircrafts and all types of war materiél in the Philippines, the US imperialists infringe on Philippine sovereignty and the policy of neutrality, and stoke military tensions in the region under the pretext of “freedom of navigation operations.”

Besides regular port visits, the US is strengthening its military foothold on the Philippines by constructing its own military facilities under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), including seaports, airports and hangars and warehouses for weapons stockpiling.