MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) clarified that there is "no cooperative arrangement" with Taiwan on subsea cables or other critical undersea infrastructure (CUI).
The DFA issued the clarification Monday amid a media query on the reported plan of the Philippines to explore deeper cooperation with Taiwan on protecting undersea cables and addressing "gray-zone" activity.
The issue stemmed from the remarks of Felipe Cariño III, deputy chief of mission at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, at a forum organized by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
Cariño allegedly mentioned about the Philippines' plan to explore cooperation with Taiwan to protect CUI and address gray zone activity.
The DFA reiterated that the Philippines "adheres to its longstanding and consistent One China Policy," which was outlined in its October 22 statement.
"There was no mention of gray-zone activity cooperation with Taiwan," the DFA said in a statement on Monday.
It said that the discussion at CNAS was "focused on the importance of protecting CUI, including through stronger public-private cooperation, particularly in the repair and recovery of damaged infrastructure."
"It must be emphasized that the protection of CUI requires concerted efforts by all parties that benefit from these essential networks," the DFA said.
The CNAS on Facebook said it hosted a conversation on "an overlooked Pacific vulnerability: subsea cables, which carry more than 99 percent of intercontinental data traffic and are increasingly targets of Chinese gray zone activity."
The CNAS thanked the panelists that included Cariño; Andrea Yang, deputy representative at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office; Richard Fontaine, CNAS chief executive officer; and Ryan Claffey, CNAS research assistant, "for a great discussion on how these allied governments can strengthen monitoring, response, and resilience."
The DFA earlier said the Philippines values its relations with China as it reaffirmed Manila's continued adherence to its One China Policy.
The DFA said that One China Policy, anchored on the 1975 Philippines-China Joint Communique, underscored the government's "consistent position that the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government of China."
