When, in 1941, General Douglas MacArthur said "I shall return," to which country was he referring?

This famous vow was made in March 1942, after General Douglas MacArthur was forced to flee the Philippines. Following Japan's invasion in late 1941, the outmatched American and Filipino forces were being overwhelmed on the Bataan Peninsula and the island of Corregidor. To prevent the capture of his top commander in the Pacific, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to evacuate to Australia and reorganize the Allied forces. Upon his arrival, MacArthur made a public statement to the people he had left behind, concluding with the powerful and personal promise: "I shall return."

The pledge became a potent symbol of Allied resolve and a beacon of hope for the occupied Filipino people. The phrase was printed on everything from matchbooks to leaflets and airdropped over the islands to bolster morale and encourage resistance against the Japanese occupation. MacArthur made good on his word over two years later, in October 1944, when he famously waded ashore on the island of Leyte. He announced his arrival to the nation with an equally famous broadcast that began, "People of the Philippines: I have returned."