The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities.
The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a maritime expert.
Photo: AP
Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the base would provide a new foothold for the military to “further safeguard our maritime sovereignty.”
The base holds strategic importance due to its proximity to Taiwan, and any conflict in Taiwan would affect the Philippines, especially considering nearly 200,000 Filipinos living there, Trinidad said.
The base is part of the county’s integrated defense strategy and reflects the military’s shift from focusing on internal security to external defense, he said.
Former Philippine representative to Taiwan Angelito Banayo previously said that under the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty, the Philippines would be a part of any military conflict in the Taiwan Strait, as all US military bases in the northern Philippines face Taiwan and are directed toward China.
Chester Cabalza, president of the Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, told the Inquirer that the base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Luzon Strait.
“It closes the gaps on national security against frequent incursions of foreign aggressors, particularly that Batanes is a frontline province just below Taiwan,” the Inquirer quoted him as saying.
The facility “serves as a contingency base in case of war in the Taiwan Strait,” acting as a “strategic launching point and logistical hub for quicker response in cases of forcible military invasion,” the daily quoted him as saying.
In April, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jr told troops at a 38th anniversary event for the Northern Luzon Command that “if something happens to Taiwan, inevitably, we [the Philippines] will be involved,” as Manila would have to rescue Filipino workers in Taiwan.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr last month said that due to the country’s proximity to Taiwan, it “cannot remain uninvolved” should a conflict erupt in the Taiwan Strait.
The US National Institute News said that the Philippines and the US have focused on defending Batanes in war games in the past few years.
The US military has deployed advanced weapons, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, Typhon mid-range missile systems and the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, an anti-ship missile system, to the northern Philippines, including Batanes, strengthening deterrence along the first island chain, the news site reported.
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