The Philippines has opened a new Coast Guard station on an island facing Taiwan to boost surveillance.
The monitoring station on the island of Itbayat in the northern Batanes province will be tasked with gathering data and intelligence to “enhance maritime domain awareness and strengthen the security measures along Luzon Strait,” National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said in a statement.
The strategic move falls in line with the US-led master plan to offset perceived threats from China. The Philippine official cited Beijing’s alleged “military buildup” in the Luzon Strait and presence of China-flagged research and/or survey vessels.
The Luzon Strait lies between the Philippines’ island of Luzon and Taiwan. Itbayat is some 200 kilometers away from Cape Eluanbi, the southernmost point on the island of Taiwan.
The new facility was inaugurated on Thursday in a ceremony led by Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) chief Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan.
The move will serve to enhance the PCG’s capabilities in an area that is “very important, being the northern tip of the country; our borders are porous and we need to monitor what’s happening there,” spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo was cited as telling the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Screenshot of X post by Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
© Photo : coastguardph
The timing of the station’s inauguration coincided with China’s sweeping military drills around Taiwan in a “strong punishment” for the separatist acts of "Taiwan independence" forces and a "stern warning" to interference and provocation by “external forces.”
China's drills also come as the US has been further stoking tensions in the region with a swathe of joint military exercises. The expansive US-Philippines Balikatan war games in April were held near the South China Sea, where both Beijing and Manila have territorial claims.
Ther PRC slammed the drills as only serving to further exacerbate regional tensions.
The Philippines "should understand that drawing in countries outside the South China Sea to flex their muscles and stoke confrontation in the region will only intensify tensions and undermine regional stability," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in a statement.
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte also warned current President Bongbong Marcos Jr. about the risks of kowtowing to the US, while accusing Washington of trying to provoke a war between the Philippines and China. The Philippines, a key US ally in the region that hosts its military bases, is being increasingly militarized by the US in an effort to shape the island nation into a "proxy for a potential conflict with China,” geopolitical analysts told Sputnik.