Philippine-Taiwan interaction would be seen in Beijing as independence support, analyst says

Potential Philippine interactions with Taiwan would be a “dangerous step” that would be seen as support for Taiwanese independence and could trigger economic retaliation from Beijing, according to a Chinese academic.

China’s foreign ministry summoned Jaime FlorCruz, Manila’s envoy to Beijing, on Tuesday to lodge “solemn representations over a series of negative moves recently made by the Philippines concerning Taiwan and security-related issues”, the ministry said.

The ministry did not elaborate but on the same day the Chinese embassy in Manila warned against remarks by Philippine Navy Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad that the Philippines and Taiwan were in talks over “international cooperation”.

In a report on TV channel TaiwanPlus News on Tuesday, Trinidad said the two navies were considering joint patrols in the Luzon Strait.

“We now have the regularisation of the cross-strait transit of warships. I believe that there will be an increase of that in the coming years. That will also be just one step away from doing joint activities, military to military,” said Trinidad, who is also the military spokesman for South China Sea issues.