Philippines President: ‘We’re Very Much on the Front Line’

From the conservative National Review (Feb 14, 2023): Philippines President: ‘We’re Very Much on the Front Line’ (By JIMMY QUINN)

Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr review the honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, January 4, 2023.(cnsphoto via Reuters)

In the wake a flurry of diplomatic and military moves that further cemented the U.S.–Philippines defense relationship, Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said during an interview with Japan’s Nikkei Asia that his country would almost certainly be pulled into a conflict between the U.S. and China over Taiwan.

During the Nikkei interview on Sunday, Marcos did not explicitly say that his country would aid a U.S. effort to defend Taiwan. But a series of recent moves speaks to his thinking on these matters.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration clinched a deal to gain U.S. access to four more military bases in the Philippines, adding to five facilities to which it already has some level of limited access. The additional bases are understood to be located in the country’s north, closer to Taiwan.

“When we look at the situation in the area, especially the tensions in the Taiwan Strait, we can see that just by our geographical location, should there in fact be a conflict in that area . . . it’s very hard to imagine a scenario where the Philippines will not somehow get involved,” he said, toward the end of a trip to Japan last week.

“I always remind everyone that Kaohsiung in Taiwan is a 40-minute flight away from my province,” he said, referring to the southern Taiwanese city and the northern Philippine province of Ilocos Norte.

Kaohsiung is a significant shipping hub, and the city’s port is a likely target for Chinese forces in the event of an invasion. Some American military personnel stationed on Taiwan — where the U.S. maintains a light, unacknowledged presence of sorts — have expressed an interest in visiting and studying the Port of Kaohsiung.

“So we feel that we’re very much on the front line,” he added.

Marcos told Nikkei that a possible visiting-forces deal in which Japan would station some of its forces in the Philippines is “certainly under study.” He also addressed the long-standing territorial disputes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.

While there was some worry that the Philippines was inching toward closer ties with China during the administration of Marcos’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, the current president has reversed that trend.

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/philippines-president-were-very-much-on-the-front-line/