This handout photograph taken between December 7-8, 2024 and released on December 9 by the Taiwan Coast Guard shows a crewmember on board a Taiwan Coast Guard ship monitoring a Chinese coast guard vessel in waters east of Taiwan. Handout/Taiwan Coast Guard/AFP/File   

MANILA — Filipinos in Taiwan should “stay put,” Malacañang said on Wednesday after China launched military drills aimed at the democratic island it claims as its own. 

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff General Romeo Brawner Jr. on Tuesday told troops to prepare to extract some 250,000 Filipinos in Taiwan should China invade the island.

“Hindi naman po dapat mabahala ang taongbayan patungkol dito,” Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary Claire Castro said when asked for comment on the AFP chief’s orders.

“Stay put. Basta tandaan nila na ang gobyerno ay handang tumulong sa kanila sa ano mang paraan,” she said.

Philippines 'inevitably' involved if Taiwan invaded: AFP chief

It has been a policy of the Philippine government to always be prepared for any contingency, Castro said in a press briefing in Malacañang.

“Sa mga ganiyang contingencies kung magaganap, lagi tayong handa,” she said.

“Kung mangyayari man po yan, hindi tayo dapat magtulog-tulog sa posisyon at trabaho,” she added.

Castro declined to answer further questions about the issue, saying the matter was under the jurisdiction of the Department of National Defense and the AFP.

Brawner earlier said that the Philippines and the United States were set to launch a “full battle test" of "all of the plans, all of the doctrines, all of the procedures that we have developed in the past years" as the traditional allies “prepare for any eventuality.”

US Secretary Pete Hegseth — who recently traveled to several Asian countries — said that the US and Japan were committed to mount “credible deterrence” across the Taiwan Strait as Beijing continues to pressure self-governing Taiwan to succumb to the mainland government.

China's military said it practiced hitting key ports and energy sites during "live-fire" drills Wednesday as part of exercises aimed at Taiwan. 

Named "Strait Thunder-2025A", the drills are located in the middle and southern parts of the Taiwan strait, the military said, which is a vital artery for global shipping.

Drills in the strait come a day after China sent its army, navy, air and rocket forces to surround Taiwan for exercises Beijing said were aimed at practicing for "precision strikes" and a blockade of the island.

That prompted Taipei to dispatch its own air and maritime forces as part of a "Rapid Response Exercise".

Taiwan's defense ministry said Tuesday China had deployed 21 warships around the island, including the Shandong aircraft carrier group, along with 71 aircraft and four coast guard vessels.

That was the highest number of warships detected during a single day in nearly a year, and the most aircraft since October 2024.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse