China’s three-week border stand-off during April in Ladakh, in Indian-administered Kashmir, had misfired, an Indian security expert told a forum in Manila, saying Beijing’s move galvanised Indian leaders into finally sealing an historic security deal with Japan. The dispute strained ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours, but both sides pulled troops back ahead of a visit […]
Amid its continuing territorial dispute with its neighbors in South East Asia, China has updated its old map by including 130 islands and islets in the South China Sea. Sinomaps Press chief editor Xu Gencai told Xinhua News Agency on Saturday that Beijing decided to come with a new official map to inform Chinese nationals […]
The Chinese are taught from grade school that the entire South China Sea is theirs. Textbooks carry an “ancient map” with nine dashes in a U-shape denoting the outer limits of the sea, skirting the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, some islands of Indonesia, and Vietnam. Thirteenth-century-old, the Chinese map purportedly proves that “we were there first.” […]
News reporters, sometimes, incompletely report or misinterpret statements by people they cover resulting in confusion or making their subject look like bearers of bad news. As I was reading back issues of the Standard Today, after my return from a trip abroad, a news article on May 24 caught my eye. It was titled “Bringing […]
President Yanai gave his annual address to the twenty-third Meeting of the 165 States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on 10 June 2013. He informed the delegates that the Tribunal had worked over the last year on four complex cases related to a variety of issues, encompassing maritime […]
MANILA, Philippines – About 18 Chinese vessels are intruding into Philippine territory, raising the need to pour more resources to defense spending, a security official said Thursday. Vicente Agdamag, Deputy Director-General of the National Security Council Secretariat, said the deployment of the ships is in line with China’s aim to consolidate its control over the […]
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – As the newest Philippine warship makes its way to the Philippines from Charleston, South Carolina, Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr. told the officers and crew of the BRP Ramon Alcaraz that the Philippines will exert all efforts to ease the tension in the West Philippine Sea, but is […]
IN APPARENT reference to territorial disputes at the South China Sea, President Benigno S.C. Aquino III on Tuesday vowed to fight for the Philippines’ sovereign rights during the 115th anniversary of the country’s independence. – Read moret: http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=Aquino-vows-to-fight-for-territorial-sovereignty&id=71690#sthash.qZlw1dmP.dpuf
Finally, some reassuring words from our American ally—the US will help enhance the Philippine military capability with emphasis on maritime security. The statement from Admiral Samuel Locklear, Commander of the US Pacific Command, to Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin came at a time of rising tensions triggered by Chinese military buildup on Panatag and lately Ayungin […]
The twenty-third Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held at Headquarters from 10 to 14 June. Often referred to as “the constitution for the oceans”, the landmark Convention was adopted on 10 December 1982 and entered into force on 16 November 1994. Its 320 articles and […]