Philippine President Says Country Would Likely Join Any Taiwan Conflict

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his country would likely become involved in any conflict involving Taiwan. The remarks precede his scheduled travel to Tokyo to discuss security cooperation with Japan. Japan’s leader has previously stated that her country could help defend Taiwan if necessary.

China has increased its military activity around Taiwan in recent years and considers the island a renegade province. A former CIA analyst said it was hard to point to an area where China was not dominant.

An attempt by China to take the island is not guaranteed to succeed. A Financial Times columnist wrote that a failure of imagination led Russia to disaster in Ukraine and a similar failure in Beijing could lead China to disaster in Taiwan.