General Romeo Brawner made the comments as Beijing's military surrounded Taiwan in large-scale exercises it said was practice for a blockade of the self-ruled island which China has vowed to one day bring under its control.
"Start planning for actions in case there is an invasion of Taiwan," he told troops in northern Luzon island.
"Because if something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved," Brawner said without naming the potential invader.
"As members of the armed forces of the Philippines, we should have that mentality that we are already at war."
Part of his soldiers' job would be "to rescue" a quarter million Filipinos working in Taiwan, Brawner said without detailing how the military would execute that mission.
The northern Philippines will play host to large-scale joint exercises with ally the United States scheduled to begin April 21, Brawner told troops at Northern Luzon Command headquarters.
"These are the areas where we perceive the possibility of an attack. I do not want to sound alarmist, but we have to prepare," he added.
Manila, which has a mutual defence pact with Washington, has been engaged in months of confrontations with Beijing over disputed areas of the South China Sea.
Beijing claims almost the entirety of the crucial waterway, despite an international ruling that its assertion has no merit.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Manila last week and said that "friends need to stand shoulder to shoulder to deter conflict to ensure that there's free navigation" in the South China Sea.
At this month's Balikatan exercises, US and Philippine troops will conduct 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", Brawner said.
"It's very important that we prepare for any eventuality," he added.
Brawner alleged that "communist China is already conducting united front works in our country".
"They are already infiltrating our institutions, our schools, our businesses, our churches, even our ranks in the military," he said without giving details.
He said the Philippines was also experiencing "cyber warfare, information warfare, cognitive warfare, political warfare".
The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Philippines has in recent weeks made a series of arrests of Chinese suspects accused of conducting surveillance on military camps and Filipino naval and coast guard ships.
China holds large-scale military drills around Taiwan
Taipei (AFP) April 1, 2025 -
China on Tuesday sent its army, navy, air and rocket forces to surround Taiwan for large-scale drills Beijing said were aimed at practising for "precision strikes" and a blockade of the self-ruled island.
Taiwan dispatched its own aircraft and ships, and deployed land-based missile systems, in response to the ongoing exercises and accused Beijing of being the world's "biggest troublemaker".
The drills come after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in Japan on Sunday that the United States would ensure "deterrence" across the Taiwan Strait, and called Beijing "aggressive".
China opposes US support for Taiwan, which Beijing insists is part of its territory and has threatened to forcefully bring under its control.
Beijing has increased the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.
China deployed 21 warships around the island, including the Shandong aircraft carrier group, along with 71 aircraft and four coast guard vessels in the drills, Taiwan's defence ministry said.
No live fire had been detected, it said. It was the highest number of warships detected in a single day since May last year, when 27 navy vessels were reported, and the most aircraft since the 153 detected in October, according to an AFP tally of the ministry's figures.
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have escalated since Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te took office in May 2024.
Beijing's leaders oppose Lai, who last month called China a "foreign hostile force" and proposed measures to combat growing Chinese espionage and infiltration.
Tuesday's exercises were aimed at sending a "stern warning and forceful deterrence" to alleged separatists in Taiwan, Beijing said.
They involved "sea-air combat-readiness patrols, joint seizure of comprehensive superiority, assault on maritime and ground targets, and blockade on key areas and sea lanes", said Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman of the Chinese military's Eastern Theater Command.
Beijing's armed forces "close in on Taiwan Island from multiple directions", he said.
The drills also involved training for "multi-directional precision strikes", the Eastern Theater Command said in a statement.
A video shared by the military on the X-like Weibo platform showed footage of weapons interspersed with animations of Sun Wukong, the legendary Monkey King from the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West".
The video climaxes with Chinese forces appearing to use satellites to mark targets across Taiwan, before ending with a flurry of rocket explosions while multiple Monkey Kings attack a giant frog monster.
A graphic shared by the military depicted Lai as an insect being roasted over an open fire.
"(Taiwan) authorities' stubborn persistence with the Taiwan independence stance and their futile attempt to split the country from outside by seeking independence... is doomed to fail," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
Taiwan's Presidential Office condemned "China's escalatory behaviour", and Premier Cho Jung-tai said "resorting to displays of military force is not what modern, progressive societies should pursue".
- Potential flashpoint -
In Washington, President Donald Trump "is emphasizing the importance of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a briefing.
She reiterated US "opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion."
The European Union accused China of increasing cross-strait tensions by holding the military drills and called on all parties to "exercise restraint".
China has carried out multiple large-scale exercises around the island in recent years, often described as rehearsals for a blockade and seizure of the territory.
Analysts have speculated that China was more likely to attempt a blockade of Taiwan than launch an all-out invasion, which was riskier and would require a huge military deployment.
Taipei military expert Su Tzu-yun told AFP the drills appeared to be of similar size to the "Joint Sword" exercises in May and October.
Holding drills straight after Hegseth's visit to the Asia-Pacific region showed China was testing the Trump administration, said Lin Ying-yu of Tamkang University.
Taiwan -- a powerhouse in semiconductor chip manufacturing -- is a potential flashpoint between China and the United States, which is the island's most important security partner.
While the United States is legally bound to provide arms to Taiwan, Washington has long maintained "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to whether it would deploy its military to defend the island from a Chinese attack.
The dispute between China and Taiwan dates back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's communist fighters.
Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign country, but has stopped short of declaring formal independence, which is a red line for Beijing.
Only 11 countries and the Vatican recognise Taiwan's claim to statehood.
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