Taiwan: PH, US, Japan face China challenge in ‘one theater’

Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan sees the Philippines, Japan and the United States as part of an increasingly interconnected Indo-Pacific security environment as China expands its military reach beyond the Taiwan Strait, a senior Taiwanese official said.

Speaking to visiting journalists in Taipei, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said countries facing growing Chinese military pressure need greater cooperation and a clearer “division of labor” to prevent them from being dealt with individually.

“The United States, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines now share one concept that we are in one theater in the Indo-Pacific region,” Lin said on Wednesday, Aug. 18.

Taipei’s top diplomat said  China’s activities could no longer be viewed only through the lens of the Taiwan Strait, pointing to Beijing’s presence in the South China Sea and East China Sea.

“All of these countries need to cooperate. Otherwise, [they] will be defeated one by one,” he said.

Manila is balancing its growing defense relationship with treaty ally the US with its longstanding One China policy and its stated desire to avoid involvement in a conflict over Taiwan.

Under the One China policy, the Philippines recognizes the government of the People’s Republic of China and does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state. 

Manila, however, maintains economic and people-to-people relations with Taipei. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has repeatedly said the Philippines would continue adhering to the policy and would not interfere in cross-Strait affairs.

But Marcos has also acknowledged that a conflict involving Taiwan would inevitably have consequences for the Philippines because of its geographic proximity and the nearly 200,000 Filipinos living and working on the self-governing island. 

More recently, Marcos ruled out allowing attacks against another country to be launched from Philippine territory in the event of a Taiwan conflict.

“No, there will be no attacks on anyone from the Philippines. The Philippines has no desire to be a belligerent nation in the region,” Marcos said.

“We have no interest in that. All we are concerned about is the defense of our territory and the maintenance of peace and stability in the region,” he added.

Marcos said allowing an attack to be launched from Philippine territory would be contrary to that policy.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has not renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

Despite tensions in the West Philippine Sea, Marcos has also stressed that Manila is not pursuing a policy of distancing itself economically from Beijing.