Philippines denies undersea cable arrangement with Taiwan

Filipino soldiers walk along a beach in Calayan Island on June 30, 2023. Amid increasing geopolitical tension between the US, China, and Taiwan, the Philippines is grappling with the potential fallout. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, lies just 140 kilometers from Taiwan, and its proximity could thrust it into the spotlight in case of conflict.

Ezra Acayan / Pool / AFP

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has no arrangement with Taiwan to protect undersea cables, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Monday, October 26, distancing the government from a Filipino diplomat’s remarks in Washington last week that Manila was exploring deeper cooperation with Taipei.

“There is no cooperative arrangement with Taiwan on subsea cables or other critical undersea infrastructure,” the department said in a short statement sent to reporters who had asked about the remarks. 

The department affirmed that the country continues to adhere to its “longstanding and consistent One China Policy.”

Felipe Cariño III, deputy chief of mission at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, said during a seminar hosted by the Center for a New American Security that both countries were eyeing closer cooperation to jointly protect undersea cables, according to a Reuters report.

Cariño said the Philippines was taking a practical approach with Taiwan to protect shared interests in the Bashi Channel, the waterway between Batanes and southern Taiwan, and was doing so “notwithstanding our one China policy.”  

The Filipino diplomat said the two sides were looking at knowledge-sharing and capacity-building, and that the cooperation could lead toward “addressing the gray-zone issues in our part of the world," according to the report.

When asked whether it could include joint patrols or holding vessels accountable for damaging cables, he said he did not have details.  

The DFA however said the discussions during the forum centered on protecting critical undersea infrastructure through stronger public-private cooperation, mainly in repairing and recovering damaged facilities.

"It must be emphasized that the protection of [critical undersea infrastructure] requires concerted efforts by all parties that benefit from these essential networks," th department said. 

"There was no mention of gray-zone activity cooperation with Taiwan," it added.

Beijing had been quick to react to the Filipino diplomat's remarks, with Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning saying a day after the forum that the Philippines should strictly adhere to the "one-China principle with real actions."

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has refused to rule out the use of force in bringing the self-ruled democracy under its control.

The Philippines shares the Luzon Strait with Taiwan, a waterway about 250 kilometres wide that links the Philippine Sea with the South China Sea. A total of 18 submarine cables pass through the strait, according to an analysis published this month by the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre. 

The Batanes island chain spans most of the strait. Its northernmost island, Mavulis, lies about 140 kilometres from Taiwan’s southern tip.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in September accused Chinese research vessel Jia Hai Ke 7 of spoofing its location while holding position about 38 nautical miles northwest of Itbayat, Batanes. 

It described its movements at the time as concerning, especially for "the security of the country's undersea communications infrastructure and the potential military use of the data collected," the PCG said.