Part One: Americans Prospecting GenSan as EDCA Site
In a flash, May Kay Carlson proved she is part of the problem President Bongbong Marcos Jr. has created with China rather than any solution.
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US envoy says China’s maritime claims a ‘cartoon’
United States Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson has branded China’s 10-dash line to delineate its supposed maritime entitlements in the South China Sea as a “cartoon.”
Speaking to a distinguished audience of business leaders, government officials, and development partners, Ambassador Carlson praised the region’s potential and highlighted the U.S. government’s long-standing partnership with Mindanao. She recognized the contributions of USAID, which has provided over Php6.2 billion ($107.7 million) to key infrastructure projects, including the General Santos International Airport, General Santos Fish Port Complex, and essential road networks.
2014: Philippines to give U.S. forces access to up to five military bases
Military sources familiar with the discussions said the United States has also requested access to three former U.S. bases — Clark airfield, Subic bay, Poro Point — and Camp Aguinaldo, the military general headquarters in Manila.
The United States is also considering whether to seek access to four civil airports – Palawan, Cebu, General Santos, and Laoag – as well as Batanes airfield for refueling and emergency servicing, the sources said. There are also nearby bases in Cebu and Palawan.
2003: U.S. Base in the Making? (archived)
The Bases of Empire: The Global Struggle Against U. S. Military Posts (eBook)
But the strong interest being taken by the Pentagon in Mindanao appears to go beyond economic interests. Stratfor, a U.S.-based think tank of former diplomats and intelligence personnel, has observed that Mindanao is being eyed for “facilities that would serve as an operations and logistics base and would be a springboard for U.S. military power in Asia.” Stratfor cites on its website the construction, made through funding by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), of the airfield and port facilities in Sarangani Bay near General Santos City in Southern Cotabato province. It states in its report that the United States “is preparing to widen its footprint in conflict-torn Mindanao.” A base in southern Mindanao would be an ideal fulcrum for U.S. operations not only on that island, but also for future counter-terrorism strikes in Southeast Asian countries, particularly in the predominantly Islamic Indonesia and Malaysia (Radics, George Baylon, 2004, “Terrorism in the Philippines and the United States War Against Terrorism,” Stanford Journal of East Asian
Affairs, Vol. 4, No. 2, Summer.)
US INTEREST IN MINDANAO. Then US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney and MILF chief Murad Ebrahim emerge from a closed-door meeting at Camp Darapanan in Maguindanao on Feb. 19, 2008. Photo courtesy of Edwin Fernandez | INQ Mindanao
1989: U.S., Japan Lead 19-Nation Plan to Aid Manila
Raul Manglapus, the Philippines’ foreign secretary, called the holding of the donors’ conference on the Fourth of July “felicitous.” He praised Sens. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D-N.Y.) and former Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), the lawmakers who first proposed the special multilateral aid program in 1987, as well as President Bush and former President Ronald Reagan for their support of it.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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