MANILA, Philippines – Hindi makikialam ang Pilipinas sa isyu sa pagitan ng Tsina at Taiwan.
Muling inulit ni Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ang posisyon na ito ilang linggo bago ang kanyang pakikipagpulong kay Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, na gumawa ng ingay nang sabihin niya na maaaring ipagtanggol ng Tokyo ang Taipei kapag umatake ang Beijing.
Ang Pilipinas ay mayroon na “from the very start, always held a one-China policy,” ang sinabi ni Pangulong Marcos sa mga Japanese reporters na nagtanong ng kanyang posisyon ukol sa Taiwan issue bago pa ang pakikipagpulong ng Pangulo sa kanyang Japanese counterpart sa Tokyo bago matapos ang buwan.
“When it comes to Taiwan, as far as the Philippines is concerned, we do not interfere with something that is an internal matter,” ang winika ng Pangulo.
“We have always held a one-China policy, and we will continue to do that,” aniya pa rin.
Matatandaang, inalmahan ng Tsina ang naging pagbisita ni Takaichi sa Taiwan sa kabila ng naging babala ng Beijing laban sa pagkilala sa isla bilang isang independent state.
Kalaunan, sinabi ng Japan’s first female Prime Minister na magde-deploy ang Japan ng self-defense forces nito kapag naglunsad ang Tsina ng pag-atake sa Taiwan, sabay sabing ang pag-atake ng Taiwan ay isang “existential crisis for Japan.”
“I think the declaration is in a very strong position that your Prime Minister has taken… I think in Japan’s case, it’s more about a choice to be involved,” ang sinabi naman ni Pangulong Marcos.
“In the Philippines, we do not have a choice because Taiwan is so close to the Philippines and we have almost 200,000 Filipino nationals living and working in Taiwan,” aniya pa rin.
“So we have many other considerations, but we end up in the same position that we want to avoid any confrontation, we want to avoid any hostilities… simply because we do not want to be involved in any war, we do not want to be involved in any conflict,” aniya pa rin.
Samantala, nakatakda namang magpulong ang Philippine at Chinese foreign ministers “in less than a month’s time,” habang kapuwa nag-commit ang Maynila at Beijing ng regular discussions para “maintain peace” sa pagitan ng dalawang bansa.
Hindin naman nagbigay ng eksaktong petsa si Pangulong Marcos o nagbanggit ng agenda ng miting, subalit sinabi na ang itinakdang pag-uusap ay bahagi ng kung ano ang kailangang gawin “to maintain the peace.”
“We have raised now the level of engagement with China. We now have our foreign ministers have agreed to regularly meet, and I think the first meeting will be our foreign – my foreign secretary and the foreign minister,” ang tinuran ni Pangulong Marcos.
“So the schedule that we put there, I don’t think the date has been finalized, but they have decided already on what the agendas will be. We continue to engage all stakeholders,” aniya pa rin.
“We have simply defined our foreign policy. Peace is in our national interest,” dagdag na wika nito. (KRIS JOSE)
