West Philippine Sea
-
Experts dismayed by Asean’s skipping of South China Sea issue
MANILA — Filipino security and maritime law experts were dismayed by the Philippines’ decision to sidestep the South China Sea dispute and set aside the country’s historic legal victory in the arbitral tribunal while chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). Professor Jay Batongbacal, director of the UP College of Law Institute of Maritime […]
-
Beijing gets its own way in ASEAN chair’s statement
BEIJING scored a diplomatic victory at the end of the 30th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, whose concluding document not only left out any mention of the landmark July 2016 international ruling against the basis of its exclusive claim to much of the South China Sea, but also deleted a reference to China’s […]
-
Duterte reiterates need for legally binding code of conduct in South China Sea
The Philippines and Thailand on Tuesday called on the country’s neighbors to respect freedom of navigation and over-flight in disputed waters. READ: Duterte taunts Alejano: Siya ang mauna sa Spratlys “Respect for freedom of navigation and over-flight in the South China Sea is in the interest of all countries within and outside the region,” President […]
-
ASEAN accepting South China Sea as China’s lake, says analyst
MANILA, Philippines — A draft Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chairman statement shows that the regional bloc is gradually accepting that the South China Sea has become “China’s lake,” an analyst said. Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor at University of New South Wales in Canberra, said that President Rodrigo Duterte, as this year’s ASEAN chair, […]
-
China wasn’t there, but ruled the summit
THE SUMMIT meeting of the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Nations held this week in Manila was dominated by a non-member that was not even in the conference hall. Through President Rodrigo Duterte, the summit chair, China succeeded in throwing into the dustbin the 2016 award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at […]
-
China revises mapping law to bolster claims over South China Sea land, Taiwan
BEIJING – China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee, a top law-making body, passed a revised version of China’s surveying and mapping law intended to safeguard the security of China’s geographic information, lawmakers told reporters in Beijing. Hefty new penalties were attached to “intimidate” foreigners who carry out surveying work without permission. President Xi Jinping has […]
-
Push for S.China Sea code stirs ASEAN suspicions about Beijing’s endgame
MANILA – China’s support for finalizing a code of conduct in the hotly contested South China Sea is generating some hope in Southeast Asia of settling disputes, but those working out the terms remain unconvinced of Beijing’s sincerity. Signing China up to a legally binding and enforceable code for the strategic waterway has long been […]
-
OPINION: Lorenzana and the true Patriots
Here and abroad, the common (mis)perception is that the current government is too cozy with China and, correspondingly, relaxing its claims in the West Philippine Sea. After all, you have a chief executive, who never fails to praise Beijing as a friendly, brotherly nation, which could serve as an indispensable partner for national development in […]
-
Bill Hayton: What the West doesn’t get about China
Beijing’s South China Sea ambitions encompass defense, trade — and pride A U.S. Navy F-18 fighter jet lands on the USS Carl Vinson following a patrol of the South China Sea. © AP The question of what China actually wants in the South China Sea is surprisingly little-studied in the West. Too many international analysts […]
-
DND chief’s island visit alarms China
China has expressed alarm over the visit of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces chief Gen. Eduardo Año to Pag-Asa Island last Friday, saying it ran counter to an “important consensus” reached between the leaders of the two countries. FMPRC/Released MANILA, Philippines – China has expressed alarm over the visit of Defense Secretary Delfin […]