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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Philippines won't interfere with Taiwan's internal matter—Marcos

Philippines won't interfere with Taiwan's internal matter—Marcos

Published May 18, 2026 11:46 pm
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (PCO)
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (PCO)
President Marcos has maintained his position over Taiwan, saying the Philippines will not interfere in any internal matter, but hopes that it would be "resolved peacefully."
"The Philippines has, from the very start, always held a one-China policy. We have always held a one-China policy. And we will continue to do that," Marcos said in a roundtable with Japanese media on Monday, May 18.
"And when it comes to Taiwan, as far as the Philippines is concerned, we do not interfere with something that is an internal matter. However, what we counsel everyone in Taiwan is that any conflict should be resolved peacefully. And again, it all revolves to peace," he added.
Marcos stressed that although, the Philippines will "feel the effects" because of its proximity to Taiwan, it does not want to be involved.
"And just looking at the map, I mean, we're not talking about politics here, we're not talking about any other subject, except that if there is actual confrontation, if there is conflict, just looking at the map, you can tell that the northern Philippines, at the very least, is going to be part of that or will feel the effects. Let me just put it that way," Marcos said.
"We will feel the effects of the northern zone and probably the rest of the zone, and we will feel the effects of that whether we want to or not. We certainly do not want to be part of any conflict," Marcos explained.
The President underscored that the Philippines can only be involved  "only to the extent of peacekeeping to the United Nations, not to go with hostile intent to any other place in the world."
Marcos further stressed that the Philippines "does not want to be involved in any conflict," especially because of the fact that there almost 200,000 Filipino nationals living and working in Taiwan.
In the middle of all of this, Marcos said Manila has been engaging with Beijing to maintain the peace in the region.
"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. "All the people in public are scheduled to meet, I think, in about – I think in less than a month's time," he said.

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