Manila should be aware that Washington has given it dangerous toys to play with

Manila does have the "sovereign prerogative" to retain the Typhon mid-range missile launchers that the United States installed in the north of the Philippines in April. But the pretext it is employing to do so is overstretched, since it claims the move is for its "security" needs in the face of the "threat" posed by China; a threat that does not exist except as an excuse for the Philippines' own aggressive posturing.

The mid-range missile launch system, which is capable of firing both Tomahawk cruise missiles and the SM-6 surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, is aggressive in intent as it puts not only southern Chinese military bases within range, but also the Taiwan Strait, and a large part of the South China Sea.

Reinforcing the antagonistic nature of its insistence on its "sovereign prerogative", Manila is reportedly also mulling the deployment of other advanced weapons systems from the US in its northernmost bases, which will overlap the field-of-fire of the Typhon system, turning the Philippines into a well-equipped military bridgehead for the US.