HAIKOU, CHINA – Recently China has been under withering political and legal attack for allegedly violating the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. What are the consequences if China simply gets “fed up” with the criticism and withdraws from the treaty? China ratified the treaty in 1996. But rival claimants in the […]
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Albert del Rosario refused to give importance to a Chinese general’s accusations against the Philippines, an official said Friday. DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez said in a press conference that he consulted Del Rosario about a remark by People’s Liberation Army Major General Luo Yuan who […]
A verbal tussle in a Regional Security Forum in Brunei earlier this week did not stop Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario from inviting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to visit Manila for “consultations.” “I indicated to him that that perhaps it’s timely for him to do this because I have been to Beijing three times […]
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Coast Guard expects to wrap up talks with the Japan International Cooperation Agency within the next few months for the acquisition of 10 brand-new patrol boats from Japan in late 2014 or early 2015. This was disclosed to the Inquirer on Thursday by Cmdr. Armand Balilo, PCG spokesperson, who said “the talks are ongoing.” […]
This week the Association of Southeast Asian Nations appeared to make progress on addressing territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Following meetings in Brunei, the group announced that China had agreed to discuss a set of rules known as the “code of conduct” to avoid conflict in the disputed waters. Last year’s ASEAN forum […]
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario walked into a regional security forum this week to hear his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi reel off a list of complaints against Manila for stirring tensions over the South China Sea. Del Rosario was not scheduled to speak, but after hearing Wang’s speech at Sunday’s […]
MANILA – There’s some progress but little breakthrough in the ASEAN meetings in Brunei dominated by China’s territorial disputes with its neighbors including the Philippines. China has agreed to host talks on a code of conduct in the South China Sea in September but the talks were carefully described in the join ASEAN-China statement as […]
(Reuters) – China agreed to hold formal talks with Southeast Asian nations on a plan to ease maritime tensions on Sunday as the Philippines accused it of causing “increasing militarization” of the South China Sea, one of Asia’s naval flashpoints. The rebuke by Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario at a regional summit in Brunei came a […]
At a fund raiser for the Filipino Advocates for Justice in Oakland on June 20, I sat down with the former national chair of Bayan USA to ask him if his group planned to join the July 24 global protest against China’s occupation of the Ayungin Reef. Model of the Philippine Independence Day float of […]
WASHINGTON— The nominee to become the top US diplomat in East Asia delivered pointed comments about China in his confirmation hearing Thursday, saying there’s no place for “coercion and bullying” in the region’s seas. Danny Russel told a Senate panel that he will do everything in his power to “lower the temperature” in territorial disputes […]