MANILA, Philippines — The government should file cases against the Chinese vessel that caused the sinking of the Filipino fishing boat Gem-Ver 1 and then abandoned its 22 crew members in the open sea, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said after details of an official report on the incident were made public on Saturday. “The fact is […]

Under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte, The Philippines has experienced an upturn in its economic fortunes with both Asian and western investors looking at the potential of a consistently growing ASEAN economy that is both ideally located as well as being home to a young widely English speaking population that is hungry for new […]

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday challenged US to fire the “first shot” at China and “assemble all their armaments there in South China Sea.” “Ngayon sabi ko, dalhin mo ‘yang lahat ng eroplano mo, barko mo dito sa China, fire the first shot at nandito kami sa likod. Sige, laban tayo kung sinong mapulpog. Totoo. […]

BEIJING – China’s Defense Ministry on Friday denied US accusations that the Chinese military had recently carried out missile tests in the disputed South China Sea, saying instead that they had held routine drills that involved the firing of live ammunition. The Pentagon said on Tuesday the missile launch was “disturbing” and contrary to Chinese […]

CABINET Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles called a 2016 verbal agreement on fishing rights at Reed Bank between President Rodrigo R. Duterte and China’s Xi Jinping a preliminary step to a more formalized deal, as members of the government aired conflicting positions on the validity of the arrangement. Mr. Nograles also acknowledged Wednesday that the […]

  MANILA, Philippines — The United States will “stand by” its obligations to the Philippines under the Mutual Defense Treaty, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said on Wednesday. “Under the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT), all I can say is to refer to what [U.S.] Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo made very clear during […]

MANILA, Philippines– The country’s top center for marine sciences on Tuesday, July 2, urged the Philippine government to safeguard the exclusive rights of Filipinos to the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). (READ: Sovereignty vs sovereign rights: What do we have in West PH Sea?) Citing the economic, ecological, and food security of current and […]

THE West is “wasting money” developing high-tech weapons systems in a world where “conventional war is dead” and a new type of “sneaky” conflict is looming, a US-based defence expert has said, citing China’s activity in the South China Sea region and Russia’s in the Ukraine. Dr Sean McFate made his remarks during a conference […]

JAPAN risks angering China after one of Tokyo’s largest warships completed a two-month deployment in the South China Sea. Japanese helicopter carrier Izumo left a Philippine military base today after an extended spell in the Indo-Pacific region. The Izumo boldly sailed near the ‘nine-dash line’ – an imaginary nautical border marking China’s territorial claims in […]

MANILA, Philippines — Amid the reported Chinese missile test in the heavily contested South China Sea, United States Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim on Wednesday urged China and other country-claimants to “refrain from provocative unilateral actions” and “behave according to international practices and law.” The U.S. reported that China tested multiple anti-ship ballistic missiles […]