From being a frontrunner in pressing China on the South China Sea disputes, the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte is seeking closer relations with China. In his state of the nation address in July last year, Duterte announced that he wants to begin a joint exploration venture with China in the South China Sea, in […]

Even without the July, 2016 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which stated that China has no legal basis to claim “historic rights” over the Bajo de Masinloc, the world knew that China’s “ownership” of the shoal was a sham, a fishwives tale of the 13th century Chinese fishermen who supposedly laid first claim […]

Manila recently allowed a Chinese ship to conduct maritime research at a resource-rich vast underwater plateau known as Benham Rise, east of the main island of Luzon, near US bases in Guam and Hawaii. For months, the Philippines has been drumming up a joint venture with China to explore for oil and gas in a […]

On January 22, Chinese government media angrily accused the U.S. of “wantonly provoking trouble” in the South China Sea. The alleged American provocation? On January 17, the U.S. Navy’s USS Hopper, a guided missile destroyer, passed within 12 miles of Scarborough Shoal — a sea feature within Filipino territory that China now calls Huangyan Island. […]

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy is strengthening its combat capability by conducting drills in the South China Sea in an effort to deal with potential disputes and national reunification in the future, a military expert said on Wednesday, adding that other countries should familiarize themselves with the situation. Website navy.81.cn, affiliated to PLA Daily, […]

Last Wednesday, the USS Hopper, an Arleigh Burke–class missile destroyer, sailed within twelve nautical miles of Scarborough Shoal, a few rocks in the northern portion of the South China Sea. We would not have known about the sail-by if we were relying on the Pentagon. Beijing announced the event and then made threats. The Chinese, […]

Contrary to Palace claims, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the Philippines, despite its limited resources, can explore and exploit the still untapped resources of the Philippine Rise on its own, even without China’s help, with sufficient funding for research and development. As early as 2013, the Philippines, through the Department […]

The Pentagon has denied that a U.S. destroyer was driven out of the South China Sea by Chinese forces, as the country’s defense ministry has claimed. “No one runs a navy ship out of anywhere,” an unnamed senior defense official told The Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday. “This whole notion that we got run off […]

This government’s claim that the Philippines cannot explore Benham Rise without China is a total sham meant to disempower and demean Filipinos and their capacity and capability as a people I am outraged by the huge hollow block thrown against the entire Filipino nation by Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque when he claimed that Filipinos cannot […]

Beijing has hit back at the U.S. after Washington sailed a guided-missile destroyer near the disputed Huangyan Island—otherwise known as Scarborough Shoal—last Wednesday without permission from the Chinese government. The USS Hooper warship was spotted within 12 nautical miles of the island and described as part of “routine” operations in international waters by the Pentagon. […]