News
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‘Chief diplomat’
Before he ended his official visit in Russia last Saturday, President Rodrigo Duterte received a doctorate’s degree in diplomacy, an honoris causa conferred upon him by the Moscow State Institute of International Relations University. This was the first honorary degree that the 74-year-old President Duterte ever accepted. The honorary degree on diplomacy is quite ironic, to say the least,…
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Pat Buchanan: Is China the country of the future?
“WHO LOST China?” With the fall of the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, the defeat of his armies and the flight to Formosa, that was the question of the hour in 1949. And no one demanded to know more insistently than the anti-Communist Congressman John F. Kennedy: “Whatever share of the responsibility was Roosevelt’s and whatever share was (General…
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Duterte finds ally in Mahathir on non-confrontation with China
MOSCOW – President Duterte has found an ally in Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in his view against antagonizing China over concerns that would affect their dealings with Beijing. “I cannot fight China. It would be a war which I can never win,” the President said during his speech before the Filipino community here on Saturday before leaving for…
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A fight for love and glory
In a recent article (A tweet is just a tweet, Sept. 16), we used parts of the song “As time goes by” to describe the US-China trade war. On the surface, the US-China conflict appears to be a tariff battle. However, upon closer observation, one can see that it goes beyond the trade war. The line “A fight for…
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Duterte reiterates: PHL has no might in sea dispute vs. China
President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday reiterated that the Philippines cannot assert its rights in the disputed West Philippine Sea with China because it is like a war that the country “can never win.” “I cannot fight China. It would be a war which I can never win […] I do not have the might,” Duterte told the Filipino community…
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South China Sea shock: The secret plan the Philippines has employed to gain upper hand
AS SOUTH CHINA SEA tensions continue to escalate between Beijing and Vietnam, an expert has revealed how the Philippines has employed to try and assert its own dominance on the disputed territory. Dr Namrata Goswami, Senior Analyst and Author, argues that Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte could be playing Russia against China, and both nations against the US. The aim…
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US tested new missile in the Pacific as China paraded weapons
Hong Kong (CNN)As China paraded some of its most powerful weaponry during celebrations marking the Communist state’s 70th anniversary on Tuesday, the United States Navy tested its newest piece of firepower in the Pacific. In the waters off Guam, the USS Gabrielle Giffords fired off a Naval Strike Missile (NSM), a sea-skimming cruise missile that is difficult to spot…
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Philippines, US defense treaty should address China’s ‘gray zone’ tactics — analysts
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines and the United States should revise its 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) to counter China’s actions in the disputed South China Sea, analysts said. Adrien Chorn and Monica Michiko Sato of the CSIS Southeast Asia Program noted that the existing treaty between the two countries is not clear on gray zone threats. Chorn and…
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Putin’s Meeting with Philippine President Signals Bigger, Trickier Russian Role in Disputed South China Sea
TAIPEI, TAIWAN – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s meeting this week with Vladimir Putin in Russia signals Moscow’s interest in playing a tricky but persuasive role in the South China Sea maritime sovereignty dispute now dominated by China and the United States, specialists in the region say. Duterte is visiting Russia October 1-5, partly to speak with Putin about increasing…
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South China Sea outrage: Vietnam launches stunning attack on Beijing as tensions deepen
VIETNAM launched a stunning attack at Beijing as it accused a Chinese oil-surveying vessel of territorial violations, worsening the already bitter tension between the two nations over the South China Sea. Hanoi said the vessel and its coastguard escorts had widened its activities by entering Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. On Friday, Beijing’s Haiyang Dizhi 8 made numerous passes through…
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No ‘absurd’ offer to buy the Spratlys?
Recently, US President Donald Trump, in one of his careless (which many Americans call “mindless and insane”) outbursts, said he wanted to buy Greenland, a large island-territory in Denmark. To which many Danes and their Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen riposted: “It is absurd! Greenland is not for sale!” Buying a country’s territory may indeed sound absurd, but there were…
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EDITORIAL: China’s sinister anniversary parade
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Tuesday held a military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Redolent of Cold War-era mass parades, a tightly choreographed procession of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s latest hardware — including tanks, intercontinental ballistic missiles and deep-sea drones — rumbled through Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, followed by…