Philippines
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PH won’t send Navy to Scarborough shoal
MANILA – The water cannon incident at Scarborough Shoal won’t merit any military response since the goal of the Philippines is to resolve the sea dispute in a peaceful manner, an official of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said. In a press conference, AFP Spokesman Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said: “We have to always think about not escalating…
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Philippines protests China ‘water cannon’ attack on fishermen
Manila: The Philippines lodged a strong protest against China on Tuesday over allegations by Filipino fishermen that the Chinese coastguard had attacked them with water cannon near a disputed shoal. The foreign department summoned the Chinese charge d’affaires to receive the formal protest over the January 27 incident at the Scarborough Shoal, said department spokesman Raul Hernandez. “The department ……
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RI, Philippines set to sign boundary treaty
A bilateral meeting between Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and his Philippine counterpart Albert F. del Rosario in Jakarta on Monday reached a historical agreement on a provisional maritime boundary line, among commitments to enhance cooperations in the areas of economy, defense, politics and sociocultural and consular affairs. The two countries, which have so far agreed to delimit each other’s…
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Chinese drive away Pinoy fishers from shoal
Chinese ships used water cannons to drive Filipino fishermen from the Panatag Shoal, a disputed territory, the military reported on Monday, even as the commander of the US Navy Pacific Fleet arrived in Manila to discuss with government officials, among others, the country’s territorial dispute with China as well as the “implications” of the US’ military rebalance to Asia policy.…
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PH says China fired water cannon at fishermen in Scarborough
MANILA (UPDATED) – The Philippines’ military chief on Monday accused China’s coast guard of firing water cannon at Filipino fishermen for the first time to drive them away from a disputed sea shoal. General Emmanuel Bautista said Chinese vessels fired cannon on January 27 near Scarborough Shoal — the subject of a bitter territorial row in the strategically important South…
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South China Sea Disputes Enter a Dangerous Phase: The U.S. Pivot Gathers Steam
“At what point do you say: ‘Enough is enough’?” Philippine President Benigno Aquino exclaimed in an exclusive interview with the New York Times. It was a forceful call for international support amid intensifying territorial disputes with China. Quite shockingly, he even compared China to Nazi Germany, cautioning the Western powers against appeasing Beijing over disputed maritime features in the Western…
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US envoy warns against altering status quo in South China Sea
The United States’ top envoy to the Philippines on Monday warned against changing the status quo in the disputed South China Sea and other contested areas in the region and called on all rival nations to adhere to international law. Defying China’s position against Washington’s involvement in the disputes, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg maintained that it is in America’s national…
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Phl, SoKor complete talks on 12 fighter jets
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is close to acquiring 12 lead-in fighter trainer jets from South Korea as the two countries completed negotiations for the multi-billion-peso project yesterday. The Department of Defense’s special bids and awards committee, led by Undersecretary Fernando Manalo, approved the offer of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) after about seven months of negotiations. The completion of the…
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4 Chinese ships back at Ayungin
MANILA, Philippines – Four Chinese surveillance ships have returned to Ayungin Shoal after several months of absence. A security official who asked not be named said two of the Chinese ships have the 306 and 363 markings on their bows, while the two others look like frigates. “They’ve been spotted near Ayungin since last week,” the security official said. Another…
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Obama seeks to avoid “clash of civilisations” between China and the West
ADIZ, Air Defense Identification Zone, Brunei, China, Diplomatic Relations, Malaysia, Militarization, Philippines, South China Sea Dispute, USA, VietnamOn the next day after President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union (SotU) 2014, which did not mention anything about the tension in East Asia, not even the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Tokyo-based The Diplomat published an article to ask whether Obama “has abandoned the Pivot to Asia”: “… he couldn’t make room for even a sentence in his…