Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 5) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he did not receive any request from the United States government for possible deployment of Filipino troops to assist in combat operations should the tension between China and Taiwan escalate to war.
“The short answer is no,” the president said when asked at the Center for Strategic and International Studies forum on Friday.
Marcos also noted that the US “never brought up” the possibility that the new sites in Luzon identified for the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) would be used “as staging areas for any offensive actions against any countries.”
“The United States has never said that this is a possibility and we’ve also made it clear to our end that this is not the purpose of those sites and this is not the way that they will be used,” he explained.Marcos reiterated that the EDCA was meant to step up the country’s preparedness for disasters, stressing the Philippines is vulnerable to climate change.The additional four EDCA sites are located in Cagayan, Isabela, and Palawan.China earlier rejected the Philippines’ move to expand the military presence of the US, especially amid the rising tension over Taiwan.But the president said that he guaranteed Chinese Foreign Minister Qiin Gang that the EDCA sits would not be tapped for military attack.
