Hands off asia!

Building a United Front Against US Militarization and Bases in Asia

We invite you to join Hands Off Asia, an international campaign against US militarism and the New Cold War in the Asia-Pacific. Led by the International Peoples’ Assembly and partner organizations across the region, this campaign calls on movements, trade unions, political parties, and all people of conscience to stand against the expanding architecture of war across the continent — and to demand peace, sovereignty, and dignity for all Asian peoples.

Why Asia?

Asia is the epicenter of the US-imposed New Cold War. The United States has built an arc of military bases and alliances stretching from Japan and South Korea through the Philippines, Guam, and Australia, to Diego Garcia and the Gulf states — all designed to encircle China and other sovereign countries that stand up to the US and its pressure tactics, while subordinating the peoples of Asia to Washington’s strategic interests. Military pacts like AUKUS and the Quad, along with dozens of bilateral security agreements, are escalating tensions and undermining the sovereignty of countries across the region.

The Base Is Not a Shield

The unprovoked and bloody US-Israeli war against Iran has shattered the myth that US military bases provide security to their host nations. Across West Asia and the Gulf, the reality is now undeniable: the base is not a shield — it is a target. This logic holds across the entire Asia-Pacific. Military installations built to encircle China do not defend the communities that live alongside them. They put those communities in danger, and they put the prospect of peace in the region at risk.

Eight Decades of Militarism

The peoples of Asia have lived with the consequences of US militarism for over eighty years. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The devastation of Korea and Vietnam. The nuclear contamination of the Marshall Islands and the Pacific. The ongoing occupation of Okinawa, which hosts the largest concentration of US military bases in Japan. These are not distant memories — they are the foundation on which today’s military infrastructure has been built. The war on Iran is not a departure from this history; it is its latest chapter.

However, Asia has had a long and resilient history of anti-war movements, stretching back to the mass struggles against the US wars on Korea and Vietnam. Many of the organizations that carried that movement still exist. What must be rebuilt is their mass character — through political education, through coordination between anti-war organizations across the region, and through connecting this struggle with the global fight against imperialism.

At the International Peoples’ Assembly, we understand that the struggle against militarism in Asia belongs to all peoples. The bases that threaten this region are part of the same global system of imperialist domination. To stand with the peoples of Asia is to stand for a world free from war.

What We Are Fighting For

We call for the removal of all US, NATO, all foreign military bases from Asia, and for the cancellation of aggressive military pacts — AUKUS, the Quad, and the bilateral security agreements that escalate tensions and strip countries of their sovereignty. We call for respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all Asian nations, including an end to interference in the internal affairs of countries in the region. And we insist that the resources currently consumed by militarization be redirected toward what people actually need: healthcare, education, housing, and economic development.

Organize events, produce political education materials, help map anti-war and peace organizations in your country, and share the campaign on your platforms. To get involved, write to us: [email protected] or fill out our contact form.

MATERIALS

Click here to download the campaign poster and here to create it in your own language.

Watch the campaign launch

The colombo declaration

Gathered in Colombo for ‘Hands Off Asia: A People’s Call for Sovereignty and Solidarity’, a conference organized by the International Peoples’ Assembly (Asia) and supported by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, we – representing movements, political parties, trade unions, and people’s organizations from 15 countries across Asia – commit ourselves to a single call that echoes across our continent.

Read the full declaration