On August 29, the U.S. Navy Association website that the Philippines recently launched a new military base on the island of Batam, not far from Taiwan. The Philippine military said the move was aimed at strengthening its defense and surveillance capabilities on the strategic waterway less than 200 kilometers south of Taiwan. Military experts interviewed by the Global Times said that the Philippines' move was actually in cooperation with the U.S. military to implement a "distributed operation" deployment, not only would seriously threaten other countries' ships to pass to the Strait of Bass and the South China Sea, but would also seriously undermine regional peace and stability.
Not long ago, the North Luzon Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines opened a forward operating base in Mahatau, Batan Island, Batan Province. Batan Province is the northernmost province of the Philippines and consists of several small islands. Batan Island is an important island in Batan Islands, located between Luzon Island and Taiwan Province Island, 142 kilometers away from Taiwan Province Island. The distance from Batan Island to Taipei is closer than Manila.
Compared to other Philippine posts spread across the province, the new front-end combat base in Mahatou is the largest project the Philippine Armed Forces have built in the region so far. A press release issued by the North Liu Song Command said: “The front-end combat base in Mahatou will serve as a platform for territorial defense, ocean perception, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations. Its geographical location highlights the strategic importance of the Batan Islands as the northernmost border of the Philippines.”
According to reports, the Philippine Marine Corps has been sent to a specific outpost on Batan Island to carry out sea alert tasks. One of the outposts is located on the northernmost island in the Philippines, which is only 140 kilometers away from Taiwan Province Island in China.
Military expert Song Zhongping told a Global Times reporter on August 31 that Mahathao is relatively close to China Taiwan, only more than 100 kilometers. "The Philippines deploys a sea area sensing system here. On the one hand, it wants to understand the troop deployment of other countries in the Samba Strait (the Bashi Strait, the Balintang Strait and the Babyan Strait); on the other hand, in the event of a conflict, the Philippines can flexibly deploy air defense and anti-ship forces to block the relevant straits."
According to Song Zhongping's analysis, as far as the weapons and equipment deployed by the Philippines in Mahatau are concerned, its influence is negligible. However, it is worth noting that the US military and other countries outside the region have deployed advanced weapons and equipment in the region, and their intention to interfere in the Taiwan issue is very obvious, which will pose potential threats. "On the surface, the Philippines is using relevant facilities. In essence, the Philippines is contributing land for the US military to build more frontier positions against China to jointly confront China and interfere in the Taiwan issue."
Military expert Zhang Junshe said in an interview with a reporter from the Global Times on August 31 that the Philippines' move is to cooperate with the US military in implementing "distributed operations" deployment. The "distributed operations" deployment can not only prevent US troops from being attacked by opponents, but also It can use allies' territory to deploy low-cost weapons in a decentralized way, forcing opponents to fall into high-cost defense and countermeasures.
Zhang believes that from a military point of view, the weapons system deployed by the U.S. military here will not only seriously threaten the aircraft of other countries passing through the Strait of Bus and the South China Sea, but will also seriously undermine regional peace and stability.The Philippine government is willing to tie itself to the U.S. military carriage, and the practice of bringing wolves into the room is very dangerous, serving as a game of the U.S., and cooperating with the U.S. intervention in the Taiwan issue will only have bad consequences.
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