Taiwan donates $200,000 to Cebu earthquake victims, warns of China’s ‘gray zone tactics’

Ahead of Taiwan's 114th National Day, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines on Thursday announced a US$200,000 humanitarian donation to help victims of the recent earthquake in Cebu province.

The aid will be coursed through the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) and will be followed by additional relief materials, according to TECO Representative Wallace Minn-Gan Chow. 

“The Taiwan government will donate US$200,000 first through MECO to the Cebu provincial government and followed by some relief materials later,” Chow said during TECO's National Day celebration in Manila.

Taiwan observes its National Day on October 10, to commemorate the uprising on October 10, 1911 that kicked off the Xinhai Revolution which, in turn, eventually led to the creation of the Republic of China. 

Taiwan also used the occasion to express concern over what it described as China’s escalating "gray zone tactics," non-military forms of coercion aimed at pressuring other countries without direct conflict.

“Our big neighbor, China’s aggressive maneuvers towards the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and the West Philippine Sea have increased exponentially over recent years,” Chow said.

He said these tactics include online disinformation, distortion of historical facts, election interference, and economic coercion, which Taiwan said threaten democratic societies, including the Philippines.

“The authoritarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party is using gray zone tactics... to influence and infiltrate democratic countries, including those in Taiwan and the Philippines,” Chow added.

China continues to assert sweeping claims in the South China Sea, including areas within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Its claims were invalidated by the 2016 Arbitral ruling in the Hague that affirmed the Philippines’ sovereign rights in its EEZ.

Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), is self-governing and democratic but is not recognized by Beijing, which considers it a province that must eventually be unified with mainland China. Taiwan maintains it is a sovereign state with its own government, military, and constitution.

“In its attempt to erase the objective reality that the Republic of China, Taiwan, is a sovereign country... China seeks to terminate Taiwan’s pursuit of its legitimate right to participate in the UN system,” Chow said.

As of press time, the Chinese Embassy in Manila has not issued a comment on TECO’s remarks.

The Philippine government, through Malacañang and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), continues to uphold its One China Policy, recognizing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole legal government of China.

However, the Philippines maintains unofficial, economic, and people-to-people relations with Taiwan through its representative offices, MECO in Taipei and TECO in Manila. — BM, GMA Integrated News