Following an uproar over President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s tweet congratulating Taiwan’s new president with a promise to “strengthen mutual interests”, which China claimed violated the “one China” principle, let’s delve into history to understand China’s perspective.

During his father Marcos Sr.’s presidency, the governments of the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of the Philippines approved a Joint Communiqué on 9 June 1975, aiming to foster traditional friendship between the Chinese and Filipino people, acknowledging the Philippines’ adherence to the “One China” principle.

Even Marcos Sr.’s political nemesis, the late former President Corazon Aquino, upheld this principle. In 1987, she issued Executive Order No. 313, prohibiting government officials from visiting Taiwan or receiving calls from Taiwanese officials.

EO 313 was based on the terms of the 9 June 1975 Joint Communiqué, where the Philippines recognized the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and that there is but one China, with Taiwan being an integral part of Chinese territory.

For that reason, China strongly expressed its dissatisfaction, with Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning stating that Marcos Jr.’s tweet breached political commitments made by the Philippines to China and amounted to gross interference in its internal affairs.

In defense of Marcos Jr., the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reiterated the Philippines’ commitment to the “One China” principle, emphasizing that the President’s remarks were his way of thanking Taiwan for hosting nearly 200,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and conducting a successful democratic process.