page_title: Philippines–Taiwan relations
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Philippines–Taiwan relations / History
caption_attribution_description: English: "淡水 Tamchuy" - Taiwanese Aboriginal Couple from Tamsui, Taiwan - Boxer Codex (1590) Observed by the Colonial Spanish Authorities in Manila, Philippines around 1590 AD
context_page_description: Philippines–Republic of China relations are foreign relations between the Republic of the Philippines and Republic of China. The Philippines maintains relations with Taiwan through the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila.
context_section_description: The ancestral origin of the majority of Filipinos and other Austronesian peoples is in Taiwan.
  In 1662, Ming dynasty loyalist Koxinga planned an invasion of the Spanish Philippines from their base in Taiwan, resulting to the Philippines to concentrate their forces north in preparation for a full-scale war against Ming China. The Koxinga invasion, however, was never carried out due to the defeat of the Ming by the Qing dynasty.
  The Philippines officially recognized the Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the past. Formal diplomatic relations were ended with the establishment of formal relations between the Philippines and the People's Republic of China on June 9, 1975. During the time that the two countries had formal relations, the Philippines allowed the Republic of China to direct and manage all the Chinese schools in the country. When formal diplomatic relationship ended, the Philippines decided to take over in managing the Chinese schools. As of now, the People's Republic of China has no intervention of local Chinese schools, except for bilaterial partnerships.
  However, the two countries established representative offices as de facto embassies, with Taiwan informally represented by the Pacific Economic and Cultural Center in Manila and the Philippines by the Asian Exchange Center in Taipei. In December 1989, the Pacific Economic and Cultural Center was renamed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines and the Asian Exchange Center was renamed the Manila Economic and Cultural Office.
  In August 2016, Taiwan's new government, headed by Tsai Ing-wen since May 2016, announced its New Southbound Policy shall focus on relations with the Philippines. Among the focal points for the Taiwan-Philippines cooperations are trade and investment, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, SMEs, ICT, climate change, education, and culture. The new policy was welcomed by the newly-elected government in 2016, amidst the new government's policy to pivot towards mainland China.
  In 2017, the Philippines and Taiwan inked an updated investment deal in Makati, the Philippines’ financial hub. The deal expanded to include the financial sector, infrastructure, and intellectual property of the two countries, far from a similar agreement in 1992 that only included the manufacturing sector. The two sides also signed six other deals as part of ministerial trade and economic consultations, including memoranda of understanding on “green” energy, insurance industry supervision, and professional training. The PRC government filed protests against the Philippines to stop the agreements, nonetheless, the agreements were signed on schedule. A poll in 2017 noted a huge increase in Filipino support towards Taiwanese independence from mainland China. The Philippines also supports the membership of Taiwan in UNESCO, in recognition of Taiwan's holistic conservation of heritage sites.
  In January 2018, Taiwan provided aid to the Philippines to rehabilitate war-torn Marawi in Mindanao. Taiwan also sent its legislative speaker and numerous parliamentarians to the Philippines to further promote parliamentary exchanges and relations between the two nations.
caption: Taiwanese Aboriginals from Tamsui in the Philippines, c. 1590 in Boxer Codex
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