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Ex-general, analyst concerned by China’s ‘veiled threat’ vs OFWs in Taiwan

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Job Manahan, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Members of the Philippine and US Armed Forces participate in a live fire exercise of Javelin missiles as part of Balikatan 2023 in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija on April 13, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/04/15/20230413-balikatan-javelin-missile-jc-12.jpg"/><figcaption>Members of the Philippine and US Armed Forces participate in a live fire exercise of Javelin missiles as part of Balikatan 2023 in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija on April 13, 2023. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — A retired general and a political analyst on Saturday criticized China for their “veiled threats” against the welfare of tens of thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Taiwan amid new developments under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). </p><p>Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian said Friday that Beijing “reserves the option of taking all necessary measures” should things escalate in the Taiwan Strait, just as it advised Manila to oppose “Taiwan independence” if it really cares about the 150,000 OFWs there. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/10/23/edca-sites-wont-be-used-for-offensive-attacks-marcos">Marcos says EDCA sites won&#x27;t be used for offensive attacks</a></li></ul><p>But Ret. Gen. Edilberto Adan said in a media forum that the statement was “very disturbing” and a form of “coercion.” </p><p>“It is a veiled threat… ‘Huwag niyo payagan ang EDCA bases’ … Threat nga ‘yun. Paikikialam yun sa ating sovereignty,” said Adan, who also leads non-profit group Advocates for National Interest. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/15/23/chinese-envoy-alarmed-over-additional-edca-sites-in-ph">Chinese envoy alarmed over additional EDCA sites in Philippines</a></li></ul><p>The EDCA bases, he said, were meant to boost the country’s defense and sovereignty, adding statements like that should be rejected. </p><p>For his part, political analyst Renato Cruz de Castro said he does not “see any connection to how the OFWs in Taiwan would be affected by the EDCA sites.”</p><p>De Castro added that a threat that OFWs in Taiwan faces is when China launches a major military offensive in the island. This is when the additional military bases could be used for evacuation. </p><p>“I hope he is not referring to that, because that is already an indication of something that China might do probably in the next 4 years,” he said. </p><p>“That’s why we have the EDCA sites… because they will be used for evacuation in case it will happen. That’s one of the reasons why we prepared those EDCA sites, air bases. That can be used in massive evacuation.” </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/12/23/edca-sites-may-be-used-by-ph-us-for-emergency-afp">EDCA sites may be used by PH, US for &#x27;emergency situations&#x27;: AFP</a></li></ul><p>Before this, Beijing said EDCA bases were &quot;<a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/04/23/china-philippine-us-base-deal-endangering-regional-peace">endangering regional peace</a>.&quot; </p><p>US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said this week the US is expecting to allocate at least $<a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/04/12/23/us-eyes-investing-100-m-for-infra-in-9-edca-sites">100 million</a> for the development of infrastructure in the 9 EDCA sites. </p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO: </strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2577451" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Ret. Gen. Edilberto Adan said in a media forum that the statement was 'very disturbing' and a form of 'coercion.'

Ex-general, analyst concerned by China’s ‘veiled threat’ vs OFWs in Taiwan

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Ex-general, analyst concerned by China’s ‘veiled threat’ vs OFWs in Taiwan

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published Apr 15, 2023 02:45 PM PHT

Read More:

China

Taiwan

OFWs

Huang Xilian

Balikatan

EDCA

Edilberto Adan

Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement

United States

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