Responses to Alarming U.S. Deployments in Asia Pacific

U.S. Deploys Nuclear Weapons on Korean Peninsula

– Philip Fernandez –

U.S. President Joe Biden and the president of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Yoon Suk-yeol agreed to deploy U.S. nuclear missiles to the ROK. Biden blames the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the measure which violates the Korean Armistice Agreement signed by the U.S. in 1953 and is a clear threat to the DPRK.

"Look, a nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies ... or partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime to take such an action," Biden said. The U..S already has approximately 28,500 U.S. troops based in the ROK and has military command of the south Korean armed forces "during any crisis or emergency." In fact, the U.S. commands those armed forces at all times and it is the Koreans who are forced to pay for the costs incurred on all the U.S. military bases in that country.

The publicly announced deployment of U.S. nuclear weapons to south Korea ratchets up the U.S. threat against peace and stability not only against the DPRK, the people of the ROK and the entire Korean Peninsula, but against China and Russia as well. The use of nuclear weapons as an instrument of "negotiations" is a measure used by the U.S. imperialists since they dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and then considered dropping them in Korea during the Korean War to wipe out both the DPRK and China, and also in the Vietnam War. In today's conditions where the U.S. is running roughshod all over every country in the world, including its "allies" and making one announcement after the other of what it expects them to do, the people of the world are served notice that they must get prepared for the dangers which lie ahead.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said on April 26 that no one wins a nuclear war. While talking to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on the telephone, he said dialogue and negotiations are the only viable way out for the Ukraine crisis. Reports inform that the two sides exchanged views on China-Ukraine relations and the Ukraine crisis. China will send a special representative of the Chinese government on Eurasian affairs to visit Ukraine and other countries to conduct in-depth communication with all parties on the political settlement of the crisis, President Xi said.

Thus far Ukraine has set reclaiming its lost territory as a precondition for any talks with Russia which is a non-starter for Russia which maintains its demands for conditions which safeguard its security.

Elsewhere in Asia, the U.S. is planning to construct four more military bases in the Philippines, under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), as part of its war preparations against China.

Reports indicate that the U.S. will construct facilities to launch long-range missiles in one or more of these EDCA locations. Since 2021, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has been planning to construct a network of ground-based missile launching systems along what it calls the "First Island Chain" which includes Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and other islands closest to China. The Communist Party of the Philippines issued a statement condemning the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. regime for colluding with the United States in its plan to construct the bases.

In a related development, the U.S. has announced that this year's Balikatan military exercise held jointly with the Philippines will be the largest ever held with more than 17,600 troops participating. The International League of Peoples' Struggle has denounced the exercises and all actions which trample on the country's national dignity and independence.


This article was published in
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Volume 53 Number 5 - May 2023

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/M5300518.HTM


    

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