The Philippines has built a coast guard station in its northern islands near Taiwan, boosting its capacity to monitor an area where China has built up its military presence, Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said yesterday.
He said the new station, less than 200km from Taiwan, would improve Manila’s ability to monitor the Luzon Strait, a vital international waterway south of Taiwan.
Ano said the area around the town of Itbayat in the Philippines’ Batanes islands was the scene of a military buildup in 2022 after China had responded to “political developments” between Taiwan and the US.
Photo: REUTERS
“China’s corresponding naval response was observed in the Luzon Strait,” Ano said in a statement.
The Luzon Strait, traversed by multiple cable systems, is a transit zone for vessels moving between the Philippine Sea and the contested South China Sea.
The frequent presence of Chinese survey ships there also underscores the importance of “securing peace, stability and freedom of navigation along the Luzon Strait,” Ano said.
Ano said the new station would allow the Philippine Coast Guard to combat foreign threats and crimes at sea including illicit trade, trafficking, piracy and foreign intrusions.
Itbayat was one of the venues of joint military exercises by the Philippines and the US from April 22 to May 10 in which more than 16,000 troops from both sides participated.
Last year, the Philippines almost doubled the number of its military bases that US forces can access, including three facing Taiwan.
China has said those moves were “stoking the fire” of regional tensions.
Meanwhile, Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodo yesterday declined to comment on ongoing Chinese People’s Liberation Army drills around Taiwan, saying that the situation in the Taiwan Strait is an “internal matter.”
“I will not comment on anything on the Taiwan Strait, as that’s an internal matter for them,” Teodoro told reporters on the sidelines of a Philippine Navy anniversary event.
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