Non-alignment and the US-China rivalry

IN the rivalry between superpowers, nonalignment has proved to be a wise policy. During the Cold War, non-aligned countries profited more from getting both superpowers compete for their support than siding with any of them. The Non-Aligned Movement itself is credited for tempering global and regional tensions during that era. How many more wars could there have been had not members of the Non-Aligned Movement banded together and said “No” to being proxies and pawns in the rivalry between the superpowers?

Even as the Philippines sought to reduce the number of US military facilities on its soil, assert Philippine sovereignty over them, and finally to remove them, the Philippines took steps to associate itself with the Non-Aligned Movement, composed largely of developing countries or the so-called Third World, seeking observer status at first and then full membership.