What a US-funded port on a Philippine island near Taiwan means for cross-strait tensions

A proposed Philippine port in Batanes, sitting astride the strategic Luzon Strait, would be of high geopolitical importance to both Washington and Manila with or without a Taiwan conflict, according to analysts.

Cayco said a US Army detachment would arrive in late April to further discuss the new facility in the province.

Located less than 200km from Taiwan, Batanes holds strategic significance in the event of a cross-strait conflict. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise it as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force.

Felix Chang, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute think tank, stressed the geopolitical importance of a port in Batanes capable of providing fuel and services to multiple large vessels.

“In peacetime, such a port would surely enable the Philippines to better monitor its northern maritime border,” Chang said.

Given the sustained pressure Beijing has put on Manila in the South China Sea, the Philippines has managed to dispatch only the occasional coastguard or navy ship to patrol the waters around Batanes, according to Chang.

In the event of a conflict, Batanes occupies a strategic position, as the island group dominates the Luzon Strait’s three main channels: the Bashi, Balintang, and Babuyan.

“The first of which [mainland] Chinese warships would likely transit to encircle Taiwan and block attempts to resupply it from the west,” Chang said.

Once completed, the new port is likely to be the “closest friendly anchorage to Taiwan”, allowing it to serve as a strategic transit point for supplies or the 160,000 or so Filipino citizens who