Unity Statement: Asia-Pacific Rights Groups Oppose 2025 Balikatan Exercises
Unity Statement: Asia-Pacific Rights Groups Oppose 2025 Balikatan Exercises
We, from various human rights organizations in the Asia-Pacific, firmly and unanimously oppose the 2025 Balikatan Exercises, which are being jointly carried out by the Philippines and the United States. Under the cover of defense cooperation, these war games are a blatant continuation of US military hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, which is based on geopolitical dominance rather than peace, development, or the defense of human rights.
The people of Asia do not benefit from the increasing militarization of our region, which is being led by the United States and its allies. It puts lives in danger, raises tensions, and infringes on national sovereignty. Since these exercises serve to further U.S. political and economic dominance at the price of peace and stability, we reject the notion that they are required for “regional security”.
More accurately, the Balikatan Exercises are part of a larger U.S. imperialist strategy to maintain its political and economic clout in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in the face of competition from China. The direct benefactors of this exercise are the political elite, defense contractors and American arms manufacturers, rather than the people of the Philippines or neighboring countries. The United States aims to control trade routes, take advantage of resources, and use sovereign territories as pawns in its global agenda by fortifying its position through military access agreements and increased war drills.
The United States’ provocative military posture in the Indo-Pacific region exacerbates conflict rather than fosters peace. Its presence makes volatile theatres like the West Philippine Sea or the Taiwan Strait even more fragile, risking a full-blown war at the expense of the U.S.’s own benefit. The Balikatan Exercises exhibit a purposeful escalation—intended to provoke rather than to protect—with their emphasis on combat training, live-fire drills, and simulated maritime confrontation.
The Balikatan Exercises are not unique.
From Okinawa to Guam, to South Korea and Australia, these exercises are part of a global trend of U.S.-led military drills that have disrupted society, harmed the environment, and violated human rights of local peoples. Previous drills in the Philippines have resulted in the displacement of entire communities, environmental degradation and multiple instances of violence against women and queer people by visiting American troops.
We demand that the Philippine government immediately withdraw from the 2025 Balikatan Exercises and terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), and other military agreements that permit foreign forces to conduct operations on Philippine territory that trampled the country’s sovereignty and intensified fascist attacks of the Filipino people.
We implore the governments and peoples of the Asia-Pacific region to deny foreign war exercises and military installations on their soil. Our area needs investments in healthcare, education, food security, and climate resilience, not more weapons, bombs, or bases. Cooperation, diplomacy, and respect for one another are the keys to peace and security; militarism motivated by outside interests is not.
We urge global peace activists, civil society groups, and grassroots movements to intensify this opposition. Speak up. Organize. Foster cross-border solidarity. Dispel the myths surrounding military drills and advocate for real, human-centered security.
No to U.S. war games!
End foreign military intervention in the Asia-Pacific!
Yes to peace, justice, and sovereignty!
SIGNATORIES:
ASIA-PACIFIC COALITION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Hong Kong Campaign For Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines
Philippines Australia Union Link
Ichrp Korea
Philippines Australia Solidarity Association – PASA
Aotearoa Philippines Solidarity
Migrante International Taiwan Chapter
