Teodoro says the US cannot launch Taiwan strikes from Philippine EDCA sites

Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said on Friday, Nov. 6, that the United States is not allowed to use sites under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement to launch offensive military operations if fighting breaks out over Taiwan. He made the comments in an interview with the Manila radio station 105.9 True FM, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency, Taiwan's Central News Agency and the Philippine outlet Screencap.

Teodoro said the restriction applies not only to the EDCA locations but to any part of Philippine territory, because the 1987 Constitution forbids it. He noted that the Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy and that Congress can only declare the existence of a state of war, the Philippine News Agency reported.

He described the agreement as mainly a logistics arrangement for the United States, whose nearest bases are in Guam and Hawaii. According to the Central News Agency and the Philippine News Agency, Teodoro said the sites are used to store fuel and non-lethal equipment rather than to stage attacks. Screencap reported that he said the Americans may build facilities there to preposition assets for territorial defence and disaster response.

The question put to Teodoro was what role the sites in Cagayan province, at the northern tip of Luzon, would play if China attacked Taiwan. Two of the nine EDCA locations are in Cagayan: Lal-lo airport and Naval Base Camilo Osias in Santa Ana. The Central News Agency reported that Teodoro identified Lal-lo airport as the EDCA site closest to Taiwan.

The other EDCA sites are Cesar Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro, Antonio Bautista Air Base and Balabac Island in Palawan, Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu and Camp Melchor Dela Cruz in Isabela. The agreement was signed in 2014 and lets Filipino and American troops train together while allowing the United States to build facilities and preposition supplies at Philippine bases.

Teodoro was also asked about placing an EDCA site in Batanes, the island group that lies between Luzon and Taiwan. He said Philippine bases there need to be expanded but that he was unsure about an EDCA site because space is limited. The Central News Agency reported that he cited a short runway constrained by terrain and a small port where strong waves make it hard for large ships to dock, leaving supplies dependent on small boats.

On the wider Strait, the Central News Agency reported that Teodoro was asked whether China might move against Taiwan around the Chinese Communist Party's 21st national congress, which is expected in the second half of next year. He said the Philippines is preparing for a range of scenarios, partly because about 200,000 Filipinos live in Taiwan.

He argued that an attempt to seize Taiwan by force would cost China more than it would gain and could plunge the region into greater chaos, the agency reported. Teodoro pointed to continuing cross-Strait trade and investment and to visits to Beijing by Taiwanese opposition figures as signs that China has other ways to pursue better relations with Taiwan.

The comments are relevant to Taiwan because Lal-lo and the other Cagayan site are the EDCA locations nearest the island. Teodoro's position separates American logistics support at Philippine bases from any use of Philippine territory as a launch point for combat operations in a Taiwan contingency, while leaving open the expansion of Philippine military facilities in Batanes.