Philippines closely monitoring threat of invasion of Taiwan —Teodoro

The Philippines is keeping a close eye on Taiwan amid the possibility of an invasion from China. 

“That is a thing that we continue to monitor daily and hopefully the engagements bilaterally between the United States and China leads to the diffusion of tensions in that territory,” said Defense chief Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro on Thursday.

Teodoro made the statement to reporters after he was asked if the current defense program of the Philippines also prepares for the likely invasion of Taiwan by China.

“First and foremost, we really have to make an assessment whether such is likely or not,” Teodoro said.

“Nonetheless, we continue to plan on all contingencies not merely any flashpoint between China and Taiwan but any contingency within the theater and its a multi-agency effort not only the defense effort,” he added.

On July 4, Reuters reported that Taiwan's defense ministry said eight Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait as China ramps up military pressure on the democratic island.

China has been claiming Taiwan as its own territory despite the island's strong objections.

China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, in April staged drills around the island in anger at President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with the speaker of the US House of Representatives.

Taiwan's government strongly objects to China's sovereignty claims and vows to defend itself if China attacks the island.

In May, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. responded with an outright "no" when asked if the United States government requested Filipino soldiers to be deployed to Taiwan if tension escalates.

“No. The short answer is no,” Marcos said.

Marcos disclosed that the US also never asked for the sites under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) to be used as staging points for any attacks against other nations.

“To be fair, the United States has never brought up the possibility that we will use, that the United States will use the EDCA sites as staging areas for any offensive actions against any countries,” Marcos said.

“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 added. —VAL, GMA Integrated News