Taiwan pushes for closer economic links with Philippines amid China tensions

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter

KAOHSIUNG, TAIWAN — Taiwan is looking to bolster its economic ties with the Philippines through potential engagements and industry expansion, as both grapple with shared security concerns in the region, Taiwanese officials said.

Taipei is seeking to forge an economic corridor with Manila that is similar to a project started last year by the US, Japan and the Philippines in northern Luzon, which aims to enhance the connectivity of the main Philippine island’s key economic regions, Taiwan Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Chen Ming-Chi said late on Tuesday.

“Taiwan aims to align with the strategic objectives of our like-minded partners and deepen bilateral economic ties with the Philippines,” he said at an opening gala of a port development forum organized by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs here.

“The Philippines is a key partner for Taiwan, with our interests and strategies closely aligned,” he added. “Both nations are committed to upholding freedom, democracy and regional peace and stability.”

Taipei and Manila share a trade relationship, and they are forging deeper ties amid mounting tensions with China. Beijing sees Taiwan as its own territory and is not shying away from taking control of the island by force, while Chinese ships have repeatedly clashed with Philippine vessels within the Southeast Asian nation’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.

The Taiwan-Philippines Economic Corridor will help Manila in port development, with Taipei also planning to build data servers in the Philippines and expand cooperation in agriculture and workforce training, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director-General for International Cooperation and Economic Affairs Yu-Ping Lien said on Wednesday.

She said Taiwan is seeking to train young Filipino workers to build a pool of skilled talent that could help attract more Taiwanese companies to invest in the Philippines.

“The Philippines has a demographic dividend, and Taiwan is in shortage of labor,” she told BusinessWorld in an interview on the sidelines of the port development forum.

Taipei also aims to help modernize the Philippines’ food sector by sharing artificial intelligence (AI) technology to boost industry development and increase agricultural yields, Ms. Lien said.

The Taiwanese government plans to collaborate with the Philippines on its national food hub in Clark, Pampanga, helping in managing its distribution and logistics systems, she added.

“We use smart devices to do distribution management. We are very good at management and distribution,” said Ms. Lien. “We would like to cooperate with the Philippines to be a part of the partners in the food hub.”

The Clark hub is viewed as a gateway for Philippine agricultural goods to reach global markets, offering services such as distribution, storage and processing of high-value produce for domestic and overseas buyers. Construction is underway after the project was launched in late October.

Ms. Lien said Taiwan is also looking at possibly having some of its data centers hosted in the Philippines.

“It’s very important for data storage and data flow… to have a second place,” she said. “We would like to find a second place to establish our AI data center so that when anything happens, there will be a safe harbor for our data.”

China claims Taiwan as a breakaway province and has threatened to annex the island, putting its 23 million people and the world’s most advanced semiconductor factories at risk.

“Taiwan suffers a lot of pressure from the other side of the Taiwan Strait,” Ms. Lien said. “We know that the China problem is not only for Taiwan, but also for the world, especially the First Island Chain,” referring to the string of nations stretching from Japan in the north through Taiwan and the Philippines to Indonesia in the south.

“This is another very important strategic reason that we want to strengthen our ties with the Philippines… Why not we work together to manage this kind of threat from China? So that the First Island Chain will be a united force to face the threat,” Ms. Lien said.

Sought for comment, the Chinese Embassy in Manila told BusinessWorld: “There’s but one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China. This is an undeniable historical and legal fact, and an unchangeable status quo in the Taiwan Strait. The Taiwan question is purely China’s internal affairs and is at the core of China’s core interests.”

The US, a close ally of the Philippines and Taiwan, released its national security strategy last week, in which it urged allies along the First Island Chain to grant greater US military access to their ports and other facilities.

“One needs to bear in mind the relationship of economic and defense sectors. That at the end of the day, what can bolster the military and defense capabilities of a country is also defined by its economic strength,” Josue Raph-ael J. Cortez, a diplomacy lecturer at De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

“Deepening the trading ties that it has with other nations is one way of strengthening its economy,” he added.

Taiwan’s ports are automated and technologically advanced, while the Philippines is working to modernize its facilities to keep pace with growing shipping demand.

Ms. Lien said Taipei wants to boost the development of Philippine seaports. “We want to have more cooperation, especially in the port management… we all put our energy into that,” she said.

“The movement of goods and people between our two countries relies heavily on the efficiency and effectiveness of our ports,” Mr. Chen said.

INDUSTRIAL PARK

Also on Wednesday, Ms. Lien said Taiwanese authorities are considering establishing an industrial park in the Philippines that would serve as a site for Taiwanese companies’ investments in the country.

“We are evaluating the possibility,” she said. “We would like to own the park, then we manage the park, and we will introduce our investment, the whole ecosystem in the park.”

Ms. Lien said Taiwan has already shared its proposal with Philippine authorities, and that Taipei wants a memorandum of understanding with Manila for the negotiations on the proposed investment site, which she said could host Taiwan’s data centers, factories and clean energy facilities.

“The concept has already been conveyed to the Philippines government,” she said. “We also want to sign a memorandum of understanding to establish an institutional structure so that the following negotiation or consultation will be in a frame and guided in the same objective that is agreed by both sides.”