Taiwan Considers Joining Luzon Economic Corridor in the Philippines

Taiwan Considers Joining Luzon Economic Corridor In The Philippines

The News Lens (Taiwan)
24 October 2024

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) told the Legislative Yuan last Monday that the government is considering joining the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) project in the Philippines. The LEC is a vast endeavor for commercial cooperation, announced last April after a meeting in Washington with leaders from the Philippines and Japan.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kisihida joined United States President Joe Biden at the White House in the summer for a trilateral summit on security and trade. Besides discussing security measures to counter China’s influence in the South China Sea, they also discussed the LEC.

The LEC entails reactivating old US military facilities like in several provinces including Pampanga, Zambales, Batangas and Manila for heaps of foreign investment commitments.

Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung told reporters that "Taiwan could play a pivotal role in the LEC.”

The LEC is also a major project of the G7, with emphasis on infrastructure, manufacturing, green industries and agriculture.

Lin said that for the future, Taiwan was interested in semiconductors, renewable energy, and also rail systems.

In a statement after the trilateral meeting, Japan and the US pledged “high-impact infrastructure projects” and “civilian port upgrades” for it as well.

The leaders added that “The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation also intends to open a regional office in the Philippines to facilitate further investments across the Philippines. The Luzon Corridor is a demonstration of our enhanced economic cooperation, focused on delivering tangible investments across multiple sectors.”

Activists in the Philippines have previously protested the LEC, claiming it is a gateway for more military intervention by the US as it matches China’s provocations with its own military displays. The US and Philippines have the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) allowing American military operations and stationing of troops in Philippine facilities.

Renato Reyes Jr of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) or New Patriotic Alliance in the Philippines said the LEC “practically turns the country’s biggest island into an EDCA site servicing thousands of foreign troops at any given time. It is purported to be an economic zone but it is linked to the installation of EDCA sites and the repurposing of Subic and Clark into military hubs for joint exercises with foreign troops.”