Military chief says Philippines ‘inevitably’ involved if Taiwan invaded

MANILA - The Philippines’ military chief said on April 1 his country would “inevitably” be involved if neighbouring Taiwan was invaded while warning China was working to infiltrate the Filipino military and other institutions.

General Romeo Brawner made the comments as

Beijing’s military surrounded Taiwan in large-scale exercises

it said were practice for a blockade of the self-ruled island, which China has vowed to one day bring under its control.

“Start planning for actions in case there is an invasion of Taiwan,” he told troops in northern Luzon island.

“Because if something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved,” Gen Brawner said without naming the potential invader.

“As members of the armed forces of the Philippines, we should have that mentality that we are already at war.”

Part of his soldiers’ job would be “to rescue” a quarter million Filipinos working in Taiwan, Gen Brawner said without detailing how the military would execute that mission.

The northern Philippines will play host to large-scale joint exercises with the US, an ally, scheduled to begin April 21, Gen Brawner told troops at Northern Luzon Command headquarters.

“These are the areas where we perceive the possibility of an attack. I do not want to sound alarmist, but we have to prepare,” he added.

Manila, which has a mutual defence pact with Washington, has been engaged in

months of confrontations with Beijing

over disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Beijing claims almost the entirety of the crucial waterway, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Manila last week and said that “friends need to stand shoulder to shoulder to deter conflict to ensure that there’s free navigation” in the South China Sea.

At April’s Balikatan exercises, US and Philippine troops will conduct a “full battle test” of “all of the plans, all of the doctrines, all of the procedures that we have developed in the past years”, Gen Brawner said.

“It’s very important that we prepare for any eventuality,” he added.

Gen Brawner alleged that “communist China is already conducting united front works in our country”.

“They are already infiltrating our institutions, our schools, our businesses, our churches, even our ranks in the military,” he said without giving details.

He said the Philippines was also experiencing “cyber warfare, information warfare, cognitive warfare, political warfare”.

The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Philippines has in recent weeks made a series of arrests of Chinese suspects accused of conducting surveillance on military camps and Filipino naval and coast guard ships. AFP