Dateline PhiliPPines US, China pour aid into Batanes, PH island closest to Taiwan

by Frances Mangosing Inquirer.net

BASCO —

Rival

superpowers United States and China are pouring aid into Batanes, the Philippines’ northernmost island closest to Taiwan, which Beijing considers its territory.

Batanes Gov. Marilou Cayco announced the new forms of assistance pledged by Washington and Beijing during the island province’s 240th founding anniversary on Monday, June 26.

Cayco said the United States Agency for International Development and the Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology would set up a Starlink premium service for a faster internet service across Basco, the provincial capital.

U.S. Embassy officials are also scheduled to visit next month, she added.

“They said they will bring some good news about our requests for assistance,” she noted in her speech, without offering other details.

But Cayco said she also sought China’s help for food security.

“The Chinese consulate in Laoag (City in Ilocos Norte) has pledged more than P3 million worth of assistance to develop a production farm in [the municipality of] Itbayat. Chinese officials were here last month and vowed to continue helping us,” she said.

Food sufficiency has been a priority for the far-flung island province,