Moscow was violating the treaty and Beijing has had thirty years to build its own missiles. In 2017, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (“PLA”) announced plans to bring down its 2.3 million strong forces below 1 million with the Army’s share falling below 50 percent. Then last year the PLA slashed three-hundred-thousand ground troops from […]

China’s ongoing construction efforts have created a situation where (in the words of the Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson) Beijing is ‘capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States’. The absence of outright war reflects not only China’s ability to move the […]

MANILA, Philippines — Despite previous pronouncements of United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on the South China Sea, the annual joint military exercises between Filipino and American troops will not reflect the maritime dispute. In his visit to Manila last month, the top American diplomat assured the Philippines that the US is ready to […]

MANILA – Some 200 Chinese ships have been spotted near the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island in the South China Sea since the start of the year, triggering alarm in the Philippine military. Philippine soldiers will continue their patrols in the disputed area, military chief Gen. Benjamin Madrigal Jr. said, adding that Chinese fishing vessels have repeatedly […]

TAIPEI — A beaching ramp due for completion this year – and warily watched by China – will give curious reporters something new to see when the Philippine military next escorts them to Thitu Island. Media pay attention to the 37-hectare (90 acres) islet west of the main Philippine archipelago because it’s the front line […]

MANILA, Philippines — The Armed Forces of the Philippines has monitored an extraordinary surge of vessels from a Chinese fishing fleet around Philippine-occupied islands in the West Philippine Sea this year. More than 600 Chinese fishing vessels have been recorded surrounding the sandbars of Pag-asa Island (Thitu) for the first quarter of 2019 alone. “Foreign […]

MANILA – The Philippines should separate its economic relations with China from their maritime row, an analyst said Saturday. Lyle Morris, a senior policy analyst of the RAND Corporation, said geopolitics and economics are not mutually inclusive. He said Manila can afford to have a stronger stance in the maritime dispute at the same time […]

Two opposition senatorial candidates at a forum Friday accused President Rodrigo Duterte of committing impeachable offenses for “letting China have its way” in the disputed South China Sea. A former presidential spokesperson present in the same forum was quick to defend the chief executive. https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/03/30/19/dutertes-soft-stance-vs-china-amounts-to-impeachable-offense-opposition-bets

Antonio T. Carpio is arguably the most patriotic Filipino of the 21st century. His bona fides in nation building are unassailable. The esteemed career in the legal profession; in the Executive branch where, for his exemplary services, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit; and in the Judiciary with his long and distinguished tenure […]

I DECIDED to support President Rodrigo Duterte, despite the fact that I did not vote for him and even if I have fundamental differences with his war on drugs. This is simply because I saw in his bravado, all captured in his crass, vulgar hyperboles, a man who had the courage to stand up to […]