Philippines Explores Deeper Cooperation With Taiwan to Protect Undersea Cables: Envoy Calls the Approach Pragmatic Despite Manila's One-China Policy
Felipe F. Carino III, the Philippines' deputy chief of mission in Washington, told a seminar at the Center for a New American Security on October 21 that the Philippines is exploring deeper cooperation with Taiwan on protecting undersea cables and addressing gray-zone activity, and that this would not change despite Manila's one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing and not Taipei.
Carino said the pragmatic and practical approach was necessary to protect mutual interests in the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines. He said the security of undersea cables was vital given that they carry nearly all intercontinental data flows, and that 60 to 67 percent of cyber incidents happen in the region. The two sides, he said, were exploring cooperation including knowledge-sharing and capacity building, which he saw as leading towards addressing gray-zone issues in their part of the world. Asked whether the cooperation could include joint patrols or accountability for vessels that disrupt communications, he said he had no details, but that the cooperation was constantly evolving and some of those possibilities might come to fruition.
Earlier this month, the Philippine Coast Guard deployed its largest vessel and an aircraft to challenge a Chinese research ship operating off the northern province of Batanes, near undersea cable corridors. At the same seminar, Andrea Yang, Taiwan's deputy representative in Washington, referred to the jailing in Taiwan of a Chinese ship captain over damage to an undersea cable, said Taiwan would put more resources into developing unmanned systems to improve maritime surveillance, and argued that interference with undersea cables should be taken up by the United Nations.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has overlapping claims with both Taiwan and the Philippines in the South China Sea, which have fuelled repeated spats in recent years. (Compiled from Reuters, October 21)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 菲律宾巴丹群岛海岸实景，面朝巴士海峡。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons 文件 Batanes Sea Coast 4.jpg，johrabino 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0 授权
