Speaking on condition of anonymity, government officials and advisers from both Taiwan and the Philippines told the newspaper that Philippine academics with close defense ties took part in closed-door forums with top Taiwanese generals to familiarize themselves with Taiwanese security perspectives.

Taipei and Manila also dispatched their coast guards on joint patrols in the Bashi Channel between the two sides, a waterway viewed by the U.S. as a strategic chokepoint in any conflict with China.

Last month, Philippine navy spokesperson Roy Vincent Trinidad and coast guard official Jay Tarrieala traveled to Taiwan to join experts from 15 governments at a summit that included discussions on countering Chinese hybrid warfare strategies.

In another sign of growing defense engagement, representatives from Taiwan's navy and marine corps observed U.S., Philippine, and Japanese troops training with a U.S. NMESIS ship-killing missile launcher in the Batanes Islands—a Philippine province closer to southern Taiwan than to Manila.

The Ministry of National Defense tracked 58 Chinese military aircraft, nine naval vessels, and one official ship around Taiwan between 6 a.m. on Wednesday and 6 a.m. on Thursday.

Forty-five of the 58 People’s Liberation Army aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait median line in the nation’s northern, central, southwestern, and eastern air defense identification zone, according to the MND.

In response, Taiwan deployed aircraft and naval ships, as well as coastal-based missile systems, to monitor PLA activity.

So far this month, Taiwan has tracked Chinese military aircraft 341 times and ships 134 times. Since September 2020, China has increased its use of gray zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval vessels operating around Taiwan.