When I was growing up in Tondo, this was a common scene: A tough guy commits a crime and is brought to trial. In Tondo at that time, it was almost impossible to get witnesses to testify in a criminal trial, particularly if the accused was a tough guy. In the few times some witnesses […]

Pentagon strategists are preparing for a potential confrontation with China over the fate of Taiwan, senior administration officials told lawmakers. “The PRC is the Department of Defense’s pacing challenge and a Taiwan contingency is the pacing scenario,” Assistant Secretary of Defense Ely Ratner, the lead Pentagon official for the Indo-Pacific, told the Senate Foreign Relations […]

A Chinese government survey ship, Da Yang Hao, has been accused of illegal activities in Palau’s waters. Palau is a small island nation, strategically located between the Philippine Sea and the North Pacific. Using ship tracking data provided by MarineTraffic.com we can confirm that the Chinese vessel was operating in Palau’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). […]

Chinese hackers this year targeted military and civilian organizations in several Southeast Asian nations, particularly those with similar territorial claims or strategic infrastructure projects, suggesting the involvement of the state, a U.S.-based cybersecurity firm said in new research released late Wednesday. Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam were the top three targeted countries over the past nine […]

BEIJING, Dec 9 (Reuters) – China is not worried about a “domino effect” of diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Winter Olympics, it said on Thursday, after Australia, Britain and Canada joined the United States in deciding not to send officials to the Games. The United States was the first to announce a boycott, saying on […]

The U.S. has ordered an arms embargo on Cambodia, citing deepening Chinese military influence, corruption and human rights abuses by the government and armed forces in the Southeast Asian country. The added restrictions on defense-related goods and services, issued by the State and Commerce departments, are due to be published and take effect Thursday. A […]

Beijing redraws the map of Asia by unilaterally asserting dominion over disputed territories from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the Himalayas and the South China Sea. NEW DELHI, India (Project Syndicate)—As the world’s largest, strongest, and longest-surviving dictatorship, contemporary China lacks the rule of law. Yet it is increasingly using its rubber-stamp Parliament to enact […]

Last Nov. 22, 2021, while marking the 30th year of the China-Asean dialogue relationship, China’s President Xi Jinping declared that China does not seek hegemony and will not bully its smaller neighbors. Chinese diplomats routinely assure the world that China does not seek to overturn the existing international system. This is all doublespeak. China is […]

THE next president of the Republic should not have a “defeatist” attitude toward the territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea, political scientists said on Thursday. Dr. Renato de Castro, Stratbase ADR Institute trustee, and Dr. Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the […]