News
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Carpio: Saying PH can’t stop China from building in Panatag pushes China more
MANILA – Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio took a dig Monday at President Rodrigo Duterte for saying he could not stop China from building on the disputed Scarborough Shoal also known as Panatag Shoal because it was too powerful. “The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, which are expressly tasked by the Constitution to defend the…
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Wenceslao: Wasted triumphs Sunda
CANDID THOUGHTS TRIUMPS at the international level are rare for a small country like the Philippines. But in 2012 and 2016, we did get two of those triumphs, historic ones if I may add. In 2012, The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) supported our contention that the 13-million-hectare underwater plateau called Benham Rise, which is…
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China to build on disputed shoal in South China Sea
A team of navy personnel and three Philippine congressmen standing on a tiny rock in the Scarborough Shoal with a Filipino flag in protest at Chinese land grabbing AFP/Getty Images China is to begin construction work on tiny islands in the South China Sea which are claimed by several other countries in the region. Beijing seized the strategically important islands…
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China’s Most Important South China Sea Military Base
Near the picturesque city of Sanya, at the southernmost tip of Hainan Island, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy is methodically preparing itself for the next phase of power projection in the South China Sea. The site in question is the Yulin Naval Base, and it is shaping up to be the most strategically important military base in the South…
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China Fishing Moratorium Likely to Anger Neighbors
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — China’s plan to declare an unusually strict fishing moratorium in the contested South China Sea this year threatens to shake relations with its neighbors, despite dialogue in recent months, and might violate a 2016 world arbitration court ruling, experts say. The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said in February it would impose its strictest fishing moratorium in May…
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China’s Navy Will ‘Intercept’ and ‘Follow’ Military Vessels and Aircraft
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) will continue to shadow foreign military vessels and intercept aircraft in the South China Sea, according to comments last week by a senior PLAN official. On the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang Weiming, deputy chief of staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy, told China’s Xinhua news…
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Philippines questions Chinese presence at Benham Rise
The undersea Benham Rise, or Benham Plateau, is considered the Philippines’ extension as declared by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Namria graphic MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) sent on Friday a letter to the Chinese embassy in Manila following reports on the presence of Chinese ships at Benham Rise which…
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China’s Supreme Court extends its jurisdiction to cover all seas under its control, including South China Sea
In this July 8 photo released by the Xinhua News Agency, Chinese missile frigate Yuncheng launches an anti-ship missile during a military exercise in the South China Sea. | AP File Photo BEIJING: China’s Supreme Court has extended its maritime jurisdiction to cover all seas under the country’s ‘sovereign control’, as Beijing firmed up its hold over the disputed South…
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Looks like the Philippines may start building in the South China Sea as well
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces the disbandment of police operations against illegal drugs at the Malacanang palace in Manila, Philippines early January 30, 2017. Picture taken January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Ezra Acayan Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces the disbandment of police operations against illegal drugs at the Malacanang palace in Manila Thomson Reuters Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the navy…
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South China Sea Disputes Expected to Take Center Stage at ASEAN Summit
After upending the regional order by boldly declaring his “separation” from America in favor of joining China’s “ideological flow” last year, Philippine president Rodrigo Roa Duterte has assumed the rotational chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year. The Philippines’ newfound regional leadership has come at a particularly crucial juncture, as the ASEAN grapples with a toxic…
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China says first draft of framework for South China Sea code of conduct ready
[BEIJING] A first draft of a framework for a code of conduct for behaviour in the disputed South China Sea has been completed, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday, adding tension in the waterway had eased notably. Since 2010, China and the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) have been discussing a set…
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US halts China’s island reclamation
CHINA attempted to restart reclamation at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) but was stopped by the United States last year, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana bared on Thursday. The incident, according to Lorenzana, happened in May last year when the US “quietly” told China to stop reclamation in Panatag, also called Bajo de Masinloc,…