Hegseth visits Manila: Washington prepares for war with China

The language of Hegseth’s press conference in Manila is indicative of the openly aggressive face of US imperialism under Trump. Gone was any reference to what had been the political shibboleth of Washington in the Asia Pacific region: the defense of “freedom of navigation.” Hegseth spoke rather of “preparing for war,” using the phrase more than once. Every time Hegseth mentioned China he termed it “Communist China,” and spoke of its “aggression.” Hegseth referred to US Seventh fleet commander Admiral Samuel Paparo “and his war plans. Real war plans.”

Hegseth presented the US approach to the Asia Pacific region until now as “years of deferred maintenance, of weakness.” The Trump administration he announced would “truly prioritize and shift to this region of the world in a way that is unprecedented… Today, it’s the Philippines. Tomorrow, it’s Japan. It will be Australia and South Korea and other nations in this part of the world.” To underscore his words, the US arranged for a joint patrol the same day, alongside Philippine and Japanese warships, of the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

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China has denounced the US deployment of the Typhon system, more than any other action, as aggression, and has repeatedly called for the system to be removed. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement to coincide with Hegseth’s visit, warning Manila against welcoming a “predator” into the region.

Hegseth announced that the US military was deploying the unit’s recently activated Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS), the Marine Corps land-based, anti-ship weapon. An unmanned vehicle, it has the capacity to target ships up to 100 nautical miles away with Naval Strike missiles. The US, he stated, would also be deploying additional aquatic drones, which have been used in the past year to supervise confrontations with Chinese vessels in the South China Sea.

The NMESIS system will be operated by a new force based in the Philippines under the terms of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) basing deal. The 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment will be based in Western Luzon, facing the South China Sea, and operate NMESIS—“an island-hopping force to harass warships and other threats in the Pacific,” according to USNI News.

The US Marines will monitor the disputed South China Sea using AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar.

Some of these US forces, based in the Philippines under terms of extra-territorial sovereignty, are returning to Subic Naval Base. USNI reported that last month, “the U.S. Marine Corps quietly leased a 57,000-square-foot warehouse at the former Subic Bay Naval Supply Depot.” It was from the Subic and Clark bases, closed down in 1992 and now reopening, that Washington orchestrated its bombardment of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

The unmanned military equipment and their lethal missile systems, explicitly targetting Chinese ships, will not be operated by Filipino troops, but by American forces based in the country. Washington is actively and daily targeting China with the material of war from the shores of its former colony in Asia.

Washington is conducting what are effectively uninterrupted military exercises in the Philippines. It is currently staging Salaknib, involving 5,000 troops. Next month, however, is the largest of all, the annual war games, Balikatan. Every year, Balikatan has been more aggressive, larger, and more open in its targeting of China.

2025 marks the largest yet—16,000 troops from the Philippines, Australia, Japan, and the US will participate in what is termed a “Full Battle Simulation,” under the supervision of Washington. It marks the first year that Japan returns as active military participant to the country it once ravaged.

Among the Balikatan exercises are Special Operations Forces training in the Batanes islands, about 120 miles south of Taiwan. The US and the Philippines will also be launching a “bilateral cyber campaign.”

Hegseth and Teodoro presented a “Joint Vision Statement on US-Philippine Defense Industrial Cooperation,” which outlined a shift in some US defense industrial production to the Philippines, including unmanned systems, ammunition components, critical mineral processing, logistics support, ship maintenance and repair, airspace integration, additive manufacturing, aircraft maintenance and repair, and systems components and spare parts production.

Related:

Marine Corps to Debut New Philippine Rotational Force at Balikatan 2025 Drills

U.S. Marines to Stage Equipment at Subic Bay Under New Prepositioning Plan

Previously: Philippines set to host second Typhon missile system, signalling Trump’s defence pledge + More