China warned the Philippines was “playing with fire” after president Ferdinand Marcos Jr suggested his country would be drawn into any conflict between Beijing and Taiwan.
“If there’s an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it,” Mr Marcos told Indian media outlet Firstpost on Wednesday during a state visit to the South Asian country.
He said his country’s closeness to Taiwan and the large Filipino community there would make involvement necessary. “There are many, many Filipino nationals in Taiwan and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem,” he said.
“We will have to go in there, find a way to go in there, and find a way to bring our people home.”
There are some 200,000 Filipinos in Taiwan, according to the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, the de facto embassy of the Philippines in Taipei.
Beijing reacted strongly saying the Philippines had “kept making wrong and provocative remarks and actions, kept fudging and hollowing out the One China Principle, and kept harming China-Philippines relations”.
The foreign ministry said, in a statement on Friday, that “‘geographical proximity’ and ‘large overseas populations’ are not excuses for a country to interfere in the internal affairs of others”.
Such arguments, it added, “not only violate international law and the Asean charter but also undermine regional peace and stability and the fundamental interests” of the people of the Philippines.
“We urge the Philippines to earnestly adhere to the One China Principle,” the ministry said, “and refrain from playing with fire on issues concerning China’s core interests.”
The Philippine leader’s remarks came amid rising tensions between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea, especially over disputed areas like the Second Thomas Shoal and the Scarborough Shoal.
The tensions have been brewing for several years but have escalated significantly since 2022.
Both sides have traded allegations of violent clashes and aggressive manoeuvres in recent years involving their coastguard personnel and maritime militias, prompting the US to reaffirm its commitment to defend the Philippines.
In a statement on Friday, the foreign ministry in Manila said Mr Marcos had only reiterated his country’s “longstanding position on the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan and the peaceful settlement of differences”.
Manila still honoured the One China Policy, it said, but called for dialogue, regional stability and the peaceful settlement of differences between Taiwan and China.
China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and president Xi Jinping wants to “reunify” the island with the mainland, by force if necessary.
The Taiwanese people seem to largely favour the status quo which gives them de facto independence.
