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The Philippines can’t choose between US and China –NSA Carlos


The Philippines cannot take sides between the United States and China should tensions between the two superpowers further escalate, said National Security Adviser Clarita Carlos.

“One major consideration is that as President [Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos] said, 'China is our partner and friend, on the one hand, America is also our friend.' We cannot choose either or, it doesn’t work that way. Our interest is to get whatever benefits we can from our relations with China and the US. And both countries I think did respect our decision regarding that,” Carlos said in an interview on a Metro Manila news radio station on Friday, August 5, 2022.

The recent visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which China claims as its breakaway province, angered the Asian superpower which escalated tensions over the Taiwan Strait as Beijing held its largest military drill in the area.

For the Philippines, Carlos said the country “will just continue engaging with both parties/actors and the President has declared repeatedly that we will engage critically and constructively with both China and the US.”

“You really have to make a fine calibration of our relationship with these two political countries. On the one hand, China is our neighbor but at the same time we have a continuing conflict regarding the contested South China Sea, on the other hand, we have the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951 so we are a defense ally of the US. So there are a lot of moving parts and our time right now cannot allow a very involved discussion on this issue,” she said.

During US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's courtesy call to Malacañang, President Marcos said that Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan may not have aggravated the strained US-China relations, but only demonstrated the brewing tension between the two superpowers.

Blinken, for his part, said the US is determined to de-escalate tensions over the Taiwan Strait to keep the region, including the Philippines, safe and ensure unimpeded access to the major waterway, where a huge bulk of trading ships pass through.

Carlos reiterated that the Philippine approach was to adhere to the One-China policy.

“Yes, we continue to take that stand. But, you will recall, we have 145,000 workers in Taiwan, mostly in the manufacturing industry. We have to protect them. That is why we have what we call MECO because they are the ones in charge of the consular requirements of the 145,000 Filipino workers,” she said. — DVM, GMA News

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