En la foto de arriba, el presidente filipino Rodrigo Duterte aparece enfierrado como para señalarle al Imperio cuáles son sus herramientas disuasorias. Ay, Rodrigo querido. Lo concreto es que estaría ocurriendo un serio corrimiento de alianzas en las Filipinas. Sus aliados estratégicos son, ahora, Rusia y China. Este es otro terremoto geopolítico, chicos. Leemos en el sitio web libanés Al Manar:
Título: Duterte
se aproxima a China y Rusia
Texto: El
ministro de Defensa de Filipinas, Delfin Lorenzana, anunció el viernes 7 de
octubre la anulación de todas las maniobras militares conjuntas con EEUU en el
Mar de la China Meridional.
“El gobierno
filipino ha ordenado la salida de los 107 militares de EEUU implicados en la
operación de espionaje con drones contra los rebeldes del sur de Filipinas”,
dijo Lorenzana.
El presidente
filipino, Rodrigo Duterte, anunció el 28 de septiembre en el transcurso de una
visita a Vietnam, el fin de las 28 maniobras militantes conjuntas que su país
realiza cada año con EEUU.
Duterte explicó
claramente que esta decisión provenía de China, que está furiosa por la
presencia militar norteamericana en las aguas del Mar de la China Meridional y
las maniobras militares allí, como ocurrió entre el 4 y el 12 de octubre en
Luzon y Palawan, donde tuvieron lugar unas maniobras anfibias que incluyeron a
1.400 soldados norteamericanos y 500 filipinos.
Antes de la toma
del poder por Duterte, EEUU y Filipinas organizaron ejercicios comunes en abril
último que fueron fuertemente criticados por Pekín. Los medios chinos
publicaron una advertencia a las potencias extranjeras que intervienen en los
conflictos del Mar de la China Meridional.
Duterte ha
promovido la independencia del Ejército filipino hacia EEUU y se ha mostrado
favorable a la cooperación militar con China y Rusia.
El presidente
filipino dijo hace semanas que iba a visitar Rusia y China este año para marcar
un rumbo independiente en la política exterior e su país frente a Washington y
establecer alianzas con los dos países con históricas rivalidades con EEUU.
Duterte tomó
posesión del cargo en junio y ha mantenido desde entonces relaciones tensas con
la Casa Blanca y ha pronunciado frases ofensivas contra el presidente Barack
Obama. Él señaló que EEUU se había negado a vender a su nación ciertas armas no
especificadas, advirtiendo que él estaba dispuesto a “romper con EEUU” y que el
presidente Obama podía “irse al infierno”.
Él añadió que
Manila pensaba adquirir esas armas a China y Rusia, que se mostraban dispuestos
a vendérselas. “Yo envié a mis generales a Rusia y Rusia dijo: “No te
preocupes. Tenemos todo lo que necesitas”. En lo que se refiere a China, ellos
dijeron: “Ven y firma un contrato y todo te será entregado”.
El 26 de
septiembre, Duterte visitó Moscú y se reunió allí con el primer ministro ruso,
Dimitri Medvedev, señalando que buscaba asegurarse el apoyo militar y económico
de Moscú y Pekín porque “él iba a cruzar el Rubicón con EEUU”.
Duterte visitará
Pekín los días 19 al 21 de octubre, donde se reunirá con el primer ministro Li
Keqiang y el presidente Xi Jinping. Entre los temas de la visita están las
discusiones bilaterales sobre la diputa de los islotes del Mar de la China
Meridional y las inversiones chinas en la economía filipina. Al mismo tiempo,
mientras que Washington y sus aliados han incrementado sus críticas contra la
guerra contra las drogas de Duterte, China la ha apoyado abiertamente.
El 29 de
septiembre, el portavoz del ministerio de Exteriores chino, Geng Shuang, dijo
en una conferencia de prensa que “bajo el liderazgo del presidente Duterte, el
nuevo gobierno filipino ha llevado a cabo políticas que priorizan el combate
contra los crímenes relacionados con las drogas. China comprende y apoya eso.
Estamos dispuestos a iniciar una cooperación con Filipinas en el tema del
narcotráfico y formular un plan de acción conjunta”.
EEUU aumenta cada
vez más su presencia militar en el Mar de la China Meridional a fin de sembrar
la cizaña entre los países de la región. La decisión de Duterte supone así un
duro golpe para los intentos norteamericanos de cercar a China y crear
conflictos con ese país.
Como respuesta,
ha habido informaciones de discusiones para cortar la ayuda a Filipinas dentro
de la Administración estadounidense. Algunos creen que Washington podría llevar
acciones en el frente interno para desestabilizar la posición de Duterte, pero
éste disfruta, según las encuestas, del apoyo del 73% de la población y con
sólidos apoyos dentro del Ejército y del ex grupo guerrillero Partido Comunista
de Filipinas (Maoísta), que tiene ahora varios puestos en el gobierno.
***
Por su parte,
Zero Hedge informa sobre la escalada verbal de Duterte contra el Imperio:
Título: Duterte
Dares CIA To "Oust" Him, Puts Joint Patrols With US On Hold
Texto: In what
has now become a daily ritual, one day after Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte dared Barack Obama to "withdraw assistance", not missing the
opportunity to insert one "you can go to hell, Mr Obama", on Friday
the outspoken president once again took aim at the US, this time targeting the
CIA, whom he urged to try and oust him, as he branded Western critics of his
deadly crime war "animals" and vowed many more killings.
Whether due to
paranoia, or simply the result of historical precedent, in two fiery speeches
to mark his 100 days in office, Duterte repeatedly raised the prospect of local
or foreign opponents seeking to remove him from power in an effort to stop the
violence. But, as Channel News Asia reports, he insisted he would not be
intimidated and that his campaign against drugs, in which an average of more
than 33 people a day are being killed, would not end.
"You want to
oust me? You want to use the CIA? Go ahead," Duterte said in a speech in
his southern home town of Davao city, referring to the Central Intelligence
Agency, while railing against US President Barack Obama and other critics. The
speech follows and accusation last month in which Duterte said the CIA was
plotting to kill him, but gave no specifics.
"Be my
guest. I don't give a shit," he said.
"I'll be ousted? Fine. (If so) it's part of my destiny. Destiny
carries so many things. If I die, that's part of my destiny. Presidents get
assassinated."
Meanwhile, in the
first concrete break in defense cooperation between the US and the Philippines
after months of increasingly strident comments by the country's new president,
the Philippine defense chief said Friday he told the U.S. military that plans
for joint patrols and naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea have been
put on hold, the AP reported. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana also said that
107 U.S. troops involved in operating surveillance drones against Muslim
militants would be asked to leave the southern part of the country once the
Philippines acquires those intelligence-gathering capabilities in the near future.
President Rodrigo
Duterte also wants to halt the 28 military exercises that are carried out with
U.S. forces each year, Lorenzana said. Duterte has said he wants an ongoing
U.S.-Philippine amphibious beach landing exercise to be the last in his six-year
presidency as he backs away from what he views as too much dependence on the
U.S.
"This year
would be the last," Duterte said of military exercises involving the
Americans in a speech Friday in southern Davao city where he lashed out at the
U.S. anew and repeated his readiness to be ousted from office for his hard-line
stance.
"For as long
as I am there, do not treat us like a doormat because you'll be sorry for
it," Duterte said. "I will not speak with you. I can always go to
China."
In Washington,
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. government is not aware of
any official notification on curtailing military exercises. He said the U.S.
remains focused on its security commitments to Philippines, with which it has a
mutual defense treaty.
"We think
comments like this, whether they are or will be backed up by actual action or
not, are really at odds with the closeness of the relationships that we have
with the people of the Philippines and which we fully intend to continue,"
Kirby told reporters.
Earlier this
week, the outspoken Philippines leader said his US counterpart Barack Obama,
whom he has previously publicly called a “son of a whores,” should “go to
hell.”
Asked to comment
on the possibility that the current joint maneuvers will be the last, Major
Roger Hollenbeck, a US military spokesman for the drills, gave a fatalistic
response: “If it’s the last, so be it.”
“I have nothing
to do with that and we are going to continue to work together; we’ve got a
great relationship,” he added. Experts say the Philippines president’s plans to
limit the presence of US troops will thwart Washington’s intention to beef up
US forces in Southeast Asia in order to counter China.
“President
Duterte’s shoot-from-the-hip style of parochial democracy is deeply troubling,”
Carl Thayer, an expert on the South China Sea, told AP. “If Duterte moves to
curtail US rotational military presence from bases in the Philippines, this
would undermine the US ability to deter China not only in defense of
Philippines sovereignty, but regional security as well.”
* * *
Duterte's falling
out with Washington will not necessarily spread to U.S. allies such as Japan,
for example, which has committed to deliver patrol ships for the Philippine
coast guard and has signed a deal to lease five small surveillance planes the
country can use to bolster its territorial defense. The planes may arrive as
early as next month, Lorenzana said.
The U.S. and
Japan have helped the Philippines develop its capabilities to safeguard and
defend its territorial waters amid China's increasingly aggressive actions in
the South China Sea. Under Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, the U.S.
and Philippine militaries twice staged naval exercises near the disputed waters.
While taking a
critical stance on U.S. security policies, Duterte has reached out to China and
Russia.
In the latest
ongoing failure for US foreign politics, Lorenzana said he has been ordered by
Duterte to travel to Beijing and Moscow to discuss what defense equipment the
Philippines can acquire from them. Lorenzana told a foreign correspondents’
forum on Friday that Manila should probably “re-assess” its relationship with
the US and the benefits of the alliance, asserting that the country’s military
would survive even if Washington were to withdraw its aid completely.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario