The Philippine Bases: Continuing Utility in a Changing Strategic Context
Lawerenci, Grinter E. (February 1980). The Philippine Bases: Continuing Utility in a Changing Strategic Context. National Security Affairs Monograph Series (Report). Washington, DC: National Defense University. p. 82.
- Has attachment: File:47L3WGN7.pdf
Abstract: Since World War II, a network of US military bases in the Western Pacific and East Asis has served to support American and allied strategic interests in the Pacific Basin. A key component of the network has been the US bases in the Philippines, notably Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base. In this monograph, Dr. Lawrence Grinter reassesses the utility of the Philippine bases in furthering US and allied security objectives. Although he examines several contending points of view, he focuses on the potential advantages of the bases for projecting power into the Indian Ocean and on the proximity of the bases to the geopolitically sensitive straits of Southeast Asia, through which massive quantities of petroleum and other materials are channeled daily. In an oil-dependent and economically interdependent world, such geostrategic considerations warrant close examination.
"...At the end of the war in the Pacific, the United States had direct responsibility for the administration of Japan, the southern half of Korea, the Ryukyus Islands, the Philippines, Guam, and the Micronesian Islands (which were later mandated to the United States under United Nations authority as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands-TTPI). Following Chinese intervention in the Korean War in October 1950, the United States sought formal alliances with critical Asian countries in which American troops were stationed during or following World War II. The United States signed bilateral defense pacts with the Philippines in August 1951, Japan in September 1951 (later superseded by a new treaty in January 1960), the Republic of Korea in October 1953, and the Republic of China on Taiwan in December 1954. The Australia-New Zealand-US (ANZUS) pact was signed in September 1951. In September 1954, following the French defeat in Indochina, the Manila Pact was signed and the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was established. Each of these four bilateral and two multilateral treaties stipulated that an armed attack on any of the parties would endanger the United States own peace and safety, and that each party was obligated to "act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes."
"...The fallback option places responsibility for US basing in the Western Pacific principally on Guam, the Northern Marianas islands, and the Palau District of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI). Should access to Clark and Subic Bay be lost or significantly reduced, these islands are the next logical places to revert to, given their proximity to the Philippines and US ownership or influence..."
"...Since 18 July 1947, Micronesia has been administered by the United States as a trust territory, under an agreement between the United Nations Security Council and the US Congress. The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was designated a "strategic trust," and by these agreements the United States, as the sole administer. ing power, has full authority over and responsibility for TTPI's foreign relations and defense matters and is authorized to use some of the islands for military purposes.8 The United States is also obligated to foster socioeconomic development of the islands and to prepare them for eventual self-government. 9 Since 1969 pressures have developed from within and without Micronesia to negotiate a new political status which would be mutually acceptable to the various TTPI districts and the United States. Political and cultural differences between the northern Marianas and the districts of Micronesia (Marshalls, Ponape, Truk, Palau, Kosrae, and Yap) have led to separate talks with each district. The northern Marianas, because of proximity to and affinity with Guam, have accepted a commonwealth status in political union with the United States.10 The other districts of Micronesia, each of which has one or two distinct languages and traditional clan affiliations, have alternated between negotiating for a collective federal system of government and fragmenting into separate arrangements with the United States ranging from commonwealth to free association to independence (presumably to be followed by a defense treaty relationship with the United States).'1 The Marshall Islands and the Palau Islands-primarily for economic reasons-are negotiating separate political status with the United States. The Congress of Micronesia, an elected body representing the six districts in some but not all matters, is fragmented. 12 The only areas In Micronesia where any kind of limited basing alternative to the Clark and Subic bases (in addition to Guam) Is feasible, from both a political and functional viewpoint, are In the Northern Marianas and the Palau Islands. The other districts of TTPI present serious problems of scattered land, poor facilities, absence of skilled labor, primitive communications, increasingly longer distances from Southeast Asia, and potentially difficult local administrations. The close proximity of the Northern Marianas to Guam, and the Marianas' and Palau's comparative development, give advantages to these areas. Expansion options, principally on Tinian in the Northern Marianas and on Babelthuap in Palau, have already been noted...."
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