DFA: One China Policy "Unchanged" but Doesn't Bar Closer Ties With Taiwan

The Department of Foreign Affairs said its adherence to the One China Policy, rooted in the 1975 Joint Communiqué with Beijing, remains "consistent, clear and unchanged" — but does not preclude "economic, cultural and functional cooperation with Taiwan."

The statement came days after Taiwan announced plans to open a representative office in Cebu, intended to help link a proposed Taiwan-Philippines economic corridor to the Luzon Economic Corridor, the Philippines-U.S.-Japan infrastructure initiative. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said it is Manila, not Beijing, that decides how the Philippines implements its own version of the policy, while President Marcos pointed to the two countries' long history of commercial ties.