Why the Philippines involve in World War 2?

Answer 1

The Japanese would have wanted the Philippines in any case, for the agricultural products and raw materials to be taken from the Philippines, because of the strategic location of the islands, and because the Japanese dream was to dominate all of east Asia through military conquests. But the immediate reason why the Philippines became involved when they did was because they were a possession of the United States in 1941. The US had taken control of the Philippines as a result of the Spanish-American War of 1898. Many people in the US were opposed to this Imperialism, but the excuses given for continuing were that in the centuries of Spanish control nothing had been done to educate the people, the population was extremely diverse with more than 1000 languages spoken, and in these conditions no one could be found to turn the islands over to, who might be trusted to keep the Philippines independent. The Japanese even then, the Germans, the Russians, the British, the French, all the Great Powers involved in the colonial exploitation of Asia were all casting covetous looks at the Philippines. So, rather than abandon the islands to whichever power could then grab them, the US continued to control the islands, though plans were on foot to grant the islands independent status when the Japanese invaded in 1941. The reason this happened was the US had embargoed the selling of oil to the Japanese, after the Japanese occupied French Indochina (Vietnam). The Japanese have no oil of their own, and oil is the lifeblood of a modern military. Without oil the Japanese would have to give up the cherished dream of conquering Asia. There was plenty of oil in the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese decided to invade the Dutch East Indies to take this oil. (The Netherlands, the colonial power in the Dutch East Indies, had already been overrun by Japan's ally, Nazi Germany). The Japanese worried that when they made this move, US forces based in the Philippines would attack their forces, or the ships supplying them, as they passed the Philippines going to and from the Dutch East Indies. So, the Japanese decided to invade and capture the Philippines as well, to remove the threat that US forces there could interfere with the plan. And, as long as they were going to do that, they decided they might just as well attack the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor and destroy it if they could, to make certain that, for a time at least, the US would be powerless to stop them.