In remarks made at the Center for Strategic and International Studies during his official visit to Washington last week, Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. insisted that the EDCA sites where the U.S.-military will station troops were only for defensive purposes, and not intended for any offensive actions. However he added an important caveat in regard to the hypothetical Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
“Now there’s an additional aspect to it,” he said, according to Reuters. “And that is … tensions across the Taiwan Straits seem to be continuing to increase. Then the safety of our Filipino nationals in Taiwan becomes of primordial importance. And so these EDCA sites will also prove to be useful for us should that terrible occurrence come about,” the President added. (https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-05/230504_Poling_President_Philippines_0.pdf?VersionId=lErqMRQupeNrF9.qU00CzJUIdAD2do8_)
