Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 12) — The Taiwanese government is working on a response to the Philippines ban on travel to and from the territory to prevent the spread of the corona virus disease (COVID-19), the Philippine representative office said Wednesday.
The agency maintained that Taiwan is a “sovereign and independent state” and urged the government to immediately retract the restriction.
“The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines expresses its grave concern about the travel ban, in which Taiwan was wrongly included,” it said on Tuesday. “We urge the Philippine government to immediately correct its decision on Taiwan and remove Taiwan from the travel ban.”
The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei said Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen called for a special Cabinet meeting to discuss “calibrated response measures” on the order that barred foreign nationals coming from Taiwan from entering the Philippines.
The measure also restricted Filipinos from going to the self-administered island. This prompted some local airlines to cancel flights to Taiwan indefinitely, affecting the travel plans of several overseas Filipino workers and tourists.
MECO Board Chairman Angelito Banayo told CNN Philippines that Taiwan is not pleased or “masama ang loob” with the ban since it appears that it is based on the One-China Policy Tsai said Taiwan has been separately governed.
Taiwan has reported at least 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19 but this figure falls behind the number of cases in other Asian countries which were not included in the ban such as Japan with 28 cases, Singapore with 47, South Korea with 28 and Thailand with 33. TECO noted that no other countries in Asia other than the Philippines banned travel from Taiwan.
“Taiwan has taken all measures needed to contain the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus,” said TECO.
Banayo said he already raised the concern to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, who said that the task force on COVID-19 will convene to reassess the matter. Banayo added that he brought this up to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan and the ministry has asked Tsai to wait for the Philippine government to reconsider the policy.
The Health department announced Taiwan’s inclusion in the ban on Monday, explaining that the World Health Organization noted the territory as part of China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
Earlier, Malacañang also maintained that the development was upon the WHO’s recommendation since it counted Taiwan as one of the countries hit by COVID-19.
“Doon sa mga affected areas, sinama nila ‘yung Taiwan [They included Taiwan in the affected areas],” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo told reporters.
Panelo, however, assured that he will bring the appeals for reconsideration to the President’s attention.
The Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines (TECO) also denounced the travel ban.
CNN Philippines Digital Producer Janine Peralta, Researcher Zsastee Villanueva and Correspondent Paolo Barcelon contributed to this report.
