Next year will mark the 80th anniversary of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's triumphant return to the Philippines as the Allies liberated the island chain from the Japanese.
But nearly 80-years later the Philippines are once again the victims of external aggression, as the communist Chinese have repeatedly rammed their ships and blasted them with water cannons. One recent ramming took place during a filming of CBS 60 Minutes, when a Philippine Coast Guard was rammed by the Chinese Coast Guard.
The 60 Minutes crew got a close look at the intensity of a situation that has been ongoing for two years, CBS News reported.
There are continuing conversations between Washington and Manila about which scenarios would trigger U.S. involvement, Philippine Sec. of National Defense Gilberto Teodoro told CBS.
ISO a win without casualties
Gordon Chang is an Asian policy analyst and author of "China is Going to War."
“I think that Xi Jinping wants a quick win, a win without casualties, and he thinks he can get it from the
Philippines. At the moment that is where war could start especially because Xi Jinping has been ignoring a series of warnings from President Biden and from his state department that the U.S. is prepared to use force because of our treaty with the Philippines. This is an extremely volatile situation."
Kirk Lippold is a retired Navy commander who commanded the USS Cole when it was attacked by terrorists in Yemen in 2000.
"Forget Taiwan, Philippines is where the conflict's going to start. Looks like if they push in the Philippines, and they sink one of their vessels or they damaged them or they forced the Philippines to withdraw, and the United States does nothing to back our ally all bets are off on Taiwan. This is a test case. Philippines is a test case for Taiwan."
And Lippold says that test case could take place before our November election.
