The Philippine defense department has apologized to China for the "grievous but purely unintentional mistake" of using Taiwan's defense ministry logo during a ceremony where the Chinese ambassador turned over thousands of assault rifles to the Filipino defense chief and top military commanders.
In this Oct. 5, 2017 photo, a tarpaulin, showing the logo of the Philippine Defense Department, top left, and that of Taiwan's Ministry of Defense, top right, is hung from the canopy of the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
The Department of National Defense said Monday that Secretary Delfin Lorenzana issued an official apology to China through Beijing's ambassador over the "technical lapse" in last week's ceremony, which was covered by the media at military headquarters.
The defense department did not say in its press statement which country owned the defense logo it displayed instead of the emblem of the China's defense ministry.
In this Oct. 5, 2017 photo, a tarpaulin, showing the logo of the Philippine Defense Department, top left, and that of Taiwan's Ministry of Defense, top right, is hung from the canopy of the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
A Philippine official told The Associated Press it was Taiwan's, adding that Chinese officials called the attention of the Philippines about the faux pas. The wrong logo was printed on a huge banner that was hung prominently above Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua, who was sitting on a red carpet and planked by Lorenzana and the Philippine military chief of staff.
It took a few days before officials discovered the error.
During the symbolic handover ceremony of 3,000 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition Thursday, "the Department of National Defense committed a grievous but purely unintentional mistake of using a different logo on a banner to represent the Ministry of Defense of the People's Republic of China," the Philippine defense department said.
The defense department stressed that it and the military adhere to the "One China policy," wherein the Philippine government recognizes only the People's Republic of China as the sole sovereign state.
"It is our sincere hope that this very unfortunate incident will not affect the cooperative and friendly relations between our two countries which has grown warmer over the past year," the department said.
After he took office last year, President Rodrigo Duterte immediately took steps to revive once-frosty relations with China while taking an antagonistic stance toward security policies of Manila's treaty ally, the United States.
Duterte has sidelined long-raging territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea in an effort to attract Chinese investment and infrastructure funds. He has promised, however, to take up with China at an unspecified time in the future an international arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing's claims to most of the disputed waters.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A $8 billion defense package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives over the weekend will “strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in the West Pacific ally chain,” Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te said Tuesday, in a reference to key rival China.
The funding will also “help ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and also boost confidence in the region” Lai, currently Taiwan’s vice president, told visiting Michigan Representatives Lisa McClain, a Republican, and Democrat Dan Kildee at a meeting at the Presidential Office Building in the capital Taipei.
In the face of “authoritarian expansionism,” Taiwan is “determined to safeguard democracy and also safeguard our homeland," Lai said.
Also known as William Lai, U.S.-educated former medical researcher is despised by Beijing for his opposition to political unification with the mainland. In recent elections, the pro-unification Nationalists won a narrow majority in the legislature, but their influence on foreign policy and other national issues remains limited.
The Senate will vote Tuesday on $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The package covers a wide range of parts and services aimed at maintaining and and upgrading Taiwan's military hardware. Separately, Taiwan has signed billions in contracts with the U.S. for latest-generation F-16V fighter jets, M1 Abrams main battle tanks and the HIMARS rocket system, which the U.S. has also supplied to Ukraine.
Taiwan has also been expanding its own defense industry, building submarines and trainer jets. Next month it plans to commission its third and fourth domestically designed and built stealth corvettes to counter the Chinese navy. as part of a strategy of asymmetrical warfare in which a smaller force counters its larger opponent by using cutting edge or nonconventional tactics and weaponry.
Lai, of the pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party, won the January election handily and takes over next month from President Tsai Ing-wen, whom Beijing has sought to isolate for the past eight years.
China is determined to annex the island, which it considers its own territory, by force if necessary and has been advertising that threat with daily incursions into waters and air space around Taiwan by navy ships and warplanes. It has also sought to pick away Taiwan's few remaining formal diplomatic partners.
While Washington and Taipei have no formal diplomatic ties in deference to Beijing, McClain emphasized the need for the entire world to observe the strength of the relationship.
“Peace is our goal. But to do that, we have to have relationships and we value your relationship. Not only militarily, but economically,” she said.
Kildee said the timing of the visit was especially significant given the recent passage of the funding bill to “provide very important support to insure security in this region.”
"It’s important for the people of Taiwan, it’s important for the people in the United States, it’s important for the entire world,” Kildee said.
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, from left Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee, Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Mark Alford, center left, a member of the House Armed Services Committee shakes hands with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee, left, meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Kildee and Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Lisa McClain, left, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Lisa McClain, left, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
