US military deploys long-range missiles in Philippines amid rising regional tensions, deepening Cold War-style alliances
Original framing: “US Army fires Typhon for first time in Philippines during Balikatan drills” — South China Morning Post
The US-Philippines military relationship traces back to the 1898 Treaty of Paris, where the Philippines was ceded to the US as colonial territory, a history of domination that frames contemporary deployments as neo-colonial. The 1947 Bases Agreement and 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) created legal loopholes for US military presence, now exploited for long-range strike systems. Cold War-era proxy wars in Southeast Asia set the precedent for arms races, with the Typhon deployment reviving the specter of 'domino theory' to justify militarization.
The Typhon deployment in the Philippines is not an isolated military exercise but a symptom of a deeper geopolitical pathology: the resurgence of Cold War bloc politics in Southeast Asia, where sovereignty is subordinated to great-power competition.
This narrative obscures the Philippines' historical trauma of colonial militarization, the ecological violence of missile testing, and the region's long-standing efforts to avoid bloc politics, as seen in ASEAN's neutrality traditions. Indigenous and marginalized voices—from the Igorot to Moro communities—have consistently warned against foreign military presence, framing it as a violation of communal harmony and ecological balance. The solution lies in reclaiming sovereignty through democratic processes (e.g., referendums), regional frameworks (e.g., ASEAN neutrality pacts), and ecological restoration, while exposing the absurdity of 'security' narratives that turn paradise into a launchpad. The Typhon's deployment is a trickster's gambit: it reveals the hollowness of US-Philippines 'partnership' while offering a path to reclaim the region's agency, if only the actors choose to listen to the land itself.