Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo has warned in a forum in the United States that the tensions in the Taiwan Strait may have “adverse repercussions” on the Philippines.
This was after China said it had “successfully completed” three days of war games around Taiwan on Monday, capping a show of force that saw it simulate targeted strikes and practice a blockade of the self-ruled island.
Chinese warships and aircraft were still operating around Taiwan on Tuesday, the island’s defense ministry said, a day after Beijing declared an end to its massive war games.
Speaking during the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) forum held in Washington DC, Manalo stressed there are 150,000 to 200,000 Filipinos living and working in Taiwan, which just sits 200 kilometers north of the Philippines.
“Taiwan is literally next door to the Philippines. So just looking at that, any kind of escalation of tensions or, even worse, some kind of a conflict, military conflict, would have really adverse repercussions on the Philippines. Of course, it would probably have repercussions on the entire region, but particularly the Philippines, given our proximity,” the Foreign Affairs chief said.
“We have always been very concerned if tensions escalate. Of course, there have always been tensions. But occasionally they tend to erupt and become more intense. And so we naturally look with concern at that,” Manalo added.
He also urged China and the United States “to manage their strategic rivalry with dialogue, transparent and sincere engagement, where possible.”
“We’ve always urged the parties concerned to try and, let’s say, manage these tensions by having, wherever possible, dialogue to prevent these tensions from escalating into something more. Because our view is that not only would it affect the Philippines, but it would affect the entire region, and could escalate to even something, you know, more dangerous,” the DFA chief said.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa, meanwhile, said the Philippines should be unfazed by the ongoing military drills being conducted by China around Taiwan “not until the bullets land in our areas.”
However, Dela Rosa, vice chairperson of the Senate committee on national defense and security, said the Philippine government should just strictly monitor the actions of China, like what it has been doing to other countries.
The Philippines has expressed its commitment to adhere to the One-China policy amid rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
In deference to this policy, the Philippines does not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a democratic self-ruling island that has been separated from the Chinese mainland since 1949 but is still claimed by China as part of its territory. With AFP
China mentioned last week a concern “shared by many in the Philippines” regarding the country getting drawn into a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait after the designation of new Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites with the United States in Luzon.
Beijing said the issue of the Taiwan question was internal to China, and that it was not the Chinese side heightening cross-Strait tensions, “but the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces in the island and certain countries that support these forces.”
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., however, maintained on Monday that the four additional EDCA sites would not be used for offensive actions.
Marcos also said China has nothing to worry about these additional military facilities as the Philippine government is only enhancing the country’s defense posture.
Dela Rosa said the Philippines should not be bothered “by the tirades and bullying of China.”
He also defended Mr. Marcos for allowing the Balikatan exercises, noting the President is the architect of the country’s foreign policy.
The former police chief said the President was merely complying with the country’s commitment to the United States in the implementation of EDCA.
The warnings issued by China, he noted, were merely part of their strategy “to dismiss our commitment.”
“And since China had already bullied us, why are we going to allow additional bullying?” he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said there could have been alternatives to the new EDCA sites, especially since “the whole technology even of warfare” has developed.
“It’s not landlocked anymore. The whole technology of peacekeeping has also been enhanced in the waters and of course, it’s in our interest not to have troubles in our territory and even in Taiwan, just to say,” she explained.
“Moving forward, despite the fact of additional land-based EDCA sites, I still think it is in our better greater longer term interest to look for a concrete expression of multilateral foreign relations especially on the waters in and beyond the West Philippine Sea in the greater South China Sea that will better serve Filipino and even regional and global interests,” the senator said.
The “Joint Sword” show of force from Beijing, which claims the island as part of its territory, was a response to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, an encounter it had warned would provoke retaliatory measures.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected nine Chinese warships and 26 aircraft around the island as of 11:00 am (0300 GMT) on Tuesday.
China “organized military aircraft this morning and crossed the median line from the north, the center, and the south,” the ministry said, referring to the unofficial but once largely adhered-to border that runs down the middle of the Taiwan Strait.
On Monday, the final day of the drills, the ministry said it had detected 12 Chinese warships and 91 aircraft around the island, with 54 planes crossing into Taiwan’s southwestern and southeastern air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
The ADIZ incursions were the highest recorded in a single day since October 2021.
During the exercises, J15 fighter jets had been deployed off China’s Shandong aircraft carrier and were among the aircraft that crossed the median line, the defense ministry added.
The ADIZ is not the same as Taiwan’s territorial airspace and includes a far greater area that overlaps with part of China’s own ADIZ and even some of the mainland.
President Tsai condemned the military drills on Monday, hours after they officially came to an end, saying China was using Taiwan’s engagement with the United States as an “excuse to launch military exercises, causing instability in Taiwan and the region”.
“Although China’s military exercise has come to an end, our military and national security team will continue to stick to their posts and defend the country,” Tsai said in a post on Facebook. With AFP