December 22, 2022

A 1991 diplomatic document declassified on December 21 revealed that the Japanese government, pressed by the U.S. administration, had pressured the Philippines into continuing to host U.S. military bases.

At that time, the United States had the Clark Air Base and the Subic Naval Base in the Republic of the Philippines with about 20,000 U.S. personnel stationed there based on the RP-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty. In June 1991, however, these bases became unusable due to the Pinatubo volcanic eruption which triggered a growing chorus of voices calling for the withdrawal of the two bases from the Philippines.

The document dated July 16, 1991, showed that Japan had repeatedly received requests from the U.S. authorities to work on the Philippine government to accept the necessity of retaining the U.S. bases. In fact, then Prime Minister Kaifu Toshiki and Foreign Minister Nakayama Taro told their Philippine counterparts about the importance of the U.S. military presence in the Philippines and of finding an amicable solution to the foreign base issue in the Philippines.

The document sheds light on Japan's shameful act of being a faithful and subservient U.S. ally willing to weaken the sovereignty and independence of the Philippines.

RP-U.S. negotiations on the two bases went as desired by the U.S. government. In August 1991, the two governments signed a "treaty of friendship, security, and cooperation" in which they agreed on the return of the Clark base and on the extension of the use of the Subic base for another ten years. In September of the same year, however, the Philippine Senate rejected the ratification of this treaty. In November 1992, the Subic base was returned to the Philippines as well, leading to the full withdrawal of the U.S. military presence from the Philippines. Accordingly, the U.S. Air Force special operation command was relocated from Clark to the U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa in Japan.

Past related article:
> Reveal two more documents on secret nuclear pacts [March 31, 2010]