Taiwan assures Philippines of protection in case tensions with China worsen
MANILA, Philippines — The Taiwanese government has assured the Philippines that it had already prepared and assured that it will also keep Filipinos deployed there safe in case tensions with China get worse.
Manila Economic and Cultural Office Chairman Silvestre Bello III said the National Police Agency of Taiwan stated that the self-governing island had already prepared 89,000 shelters in case of Beijing’s attack.
“I met with the Director General together with the head of the home Civilian Defense of Taiwan and they assured us that they will also protect our countrymen there,” Bello, who is also the country’s resident representative there, was quoted as saying partly in Filipino during a news conference on Saturday.
Bello said around 160,000 overseas Filipino workers deployed in Taiwan work in the manufacturing industry, composing 90% of its manpower. Other OFWs are teachers, farmers and hospitality industry workers.
Following visits by high-ranking officials from the United States last year—the first being US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s in August 2022—China has heightened its military drills around Taiwan. Beijing said then that Pelosi’s visit could give “separatists” the wrong idea.
Both the United States and the Philippines maintain a "One China" policy, which recognizes only one Chinese government.
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Concerns over OFWs based in Taiwan were again raised last month after Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian’s “advised” the Philippines against supporting Taiwan’s independence if it “cares genuinely” about migrant Filipino workers.
The statement comes after Manila gave access to more military bases to Washington, some of which are in the northern part of the country – facing Taiwan.
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Bello assured the public this weekend that “in Taiwan, everything is normal.”
“If in the remote possibility that there would be an emergency situation—like for example, an earthquake or even war—the Taiwanese government is prepared not only to protect their own people, but even Filipinos,” he said.
READ: DFA: Contingencies in place in areas with many OFWs like Taiwan
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