Around 100 Filipinos bound for home were stuck in Taiwan, and some 200 passengers sat stranded at airports in the Philippines. That was the cost, within days, of a travel ban Manila extended to Taiwan in February 2020 over the new coronavirus.
The ban began as a precaution aimed at China. On Feb. 2, the Philippine government barred all travel to and from China, Hong Kong and Macau. Taiwan was not on that list. Late on Monday, Feb. 10, the Department of Health said the restriction covered Taiwan as well, following the Philippines’ One China policy, which treats Taiwan as a Chinese province.
Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo explained the reasoning. “When we asked the World Health Organization very, very clearly, they always refer to just one China, and Taiwan is included, even in their official reports,” he said.
Taipei weighs a response
Taiwan took it badly. Lito Banayo, chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, the Philippines’ representative office in Taiwan, told GMA News TV on Wednesday, Feb. 12, that President Tsai Ing-wen had called a special Cabinet meeting that morning to discuss possible retaliation. One option was a ban on Filipino migrant workers in Taiwan.
Banayo said the offense went deep. Taiwanese officials, he said, saw the One China policy as the real reason Taiwan had been added after the Feb. 2 advisory. He sketched what retaliation could look like: work contracts left unrenewed, or factories told to cut their Filipino staff. About 160,000 Filipinos in Taiwan could be affected, he said.
There was a brake on the plan. Banayo said Taiwan’s foreign affairs officials were urging the Cabinet to hold off after getting assurances that Manila would reassess the ban. He said he had talked with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and other officials, who told him they would review the situation and meet again within two or three days.
Manpower agencies in the Philippines had already objected to including Taiwan, noting that the United Nations treats it as an independent state, according to GMA.
Duterte holds the line
The reassessment did not change the outcome. On Thursday, Feb. 13, President Rodrigo Duterte rejected Taiwan’s appeal to lift the ban, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported. His spokesperson, Salvador Panelo, said the restriction would stay “until the danger persists.”
Panelo quoted the president directly: “My primary concern is the health and safety of our countrymen.”
Taiwan, for its part, said it was still considering countermeasures if the ban was not lifted.
Sources
- Taiwan travel ban stays amid retaliation threat | Eye On Taiwan
- Taiwan mulling retaliatory measures against Philippines over travel ban — MECO exec | GMA News Online
