Instability in the Taiwan Strait caused by Chinese military drills will have a great impact on Philippine security, an expert on security said Monday.
“We are hosting American military facilities and if the US decides to use these military facilities to act in any military contingencies in Taiwan, then surely the Philippines will be a target of possible China’s military action also,” said Rommel Banlaoi, president of the Philippine Society for Intelligence and Security Studies, on ANC’s “Headstart” TV program.
Banlaoi said the Philippines must pay serious attention to the developments in Taiwan Strait, focusing on the need to avoid military conflict and promote the peaceful management of ongoing tensions there.
China launched the military drills on Saturday, in what it called a “stern warning” to the self-ruled island’s government, after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen met with the US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
As this developed, Senator Christopher Go urged the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) to put preemptive measures in place for the welfare of Filipino workers in Taiwan.
“We must always be proactive and think ahead when it comes to the welfare of our fellow Filipinos abroad,” Go said.
“In light of recent events, we must take steps to ensure their safety and well-being, including preemptive measures like alternative livelihoods and repatriation plans,” he added.
There are nearly 150,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan, according to the DMW.
On Sunday, the Department of National Defense insisted that the proposed four military sites under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States will not threaten the country’s sovereignty – despite potentially drawing the country into a conflict with China over Taiwan, a US ally.
In a statement, the DND reiterated that the agreed locations for the new EDCA sites were by invitation of the Philippines and are by no means “unhampered” or “unimpeded.”
But the Defense department remained silent over China’s military drills around Taiwan, even as opposition lawmakers voiced concern over two of the EDCA sites being placed in Luzon near Taiwan, just 400 kilometers away to the north.
Defense analysts said the US would use the sites to deter China’s advance into Taiwan.