While Taiwan accepts yet another slow-delivery weapons deal, one of the slowest to date, China continues to build on the ocean to face off against the United States. It’s pure war strategy, East to West. The argument goes that China… Read More ›
Manila
A worried China tries to urge Philippines to ditch its South China Sea case
China urged the Philippines on Tuesday to ditch its attempt to solve South China Sea territorial disputes with an international tribunal and instead negotiate with Beijing directly, following the arbitration panel’s latest request for input from China. The Philippines has… Read More ›
China rejects Philippines protest on ships, complains of detentions
China rejected Philippine complaints on Wednesday about Chinese survey vessels operating in a gas-rich area of Manila‘s exclusive economic zone, and has lodged a separate complaint about the detention of Chinese workers, as tensions persist. Philippine President Benigno Aquino said… Read More ›
Philippines gives long jail terms to 12 Chinese fishermen for fishing illegally in South China Sea
A court in the Philippines has given long jail sentences to 12 Chinese fishermen for fishing illegally in the South China Sea. It is the latest incident likely to raise tensions between Manila and Beijing, which have competing claims in… Read More ›
China keeps changing excuses for South China Sea claims
Ancient Malays had crossed the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific millenniums before China started mapping its surrounding waters. With that fact, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio prefaced a lecture last June at De La Salle University… Read More ›
Philippines to propose no action to raise tension with China in sea disputes
The Philippines will propose a freeze on all activity that raises tension in disputed waters in the South China Sea as part of a three-part plan at a regional security meeting next month, Manila‘s foreign minister said on Tuesday. Southeast… Read More ›
Philippines urges unity for South East Asian nations in China sea dispute
The Philippines is pushing for a meeting among four Southeast Asian nations with conflicting claims to waters in the South China Sea so that they can hammer out a common stand in dealings with China, Manila‘s foreign minister said on… Read More ›
Philippines says U.S. obligated to help in case of attack by China
The United States has a treaty obligation to help the Philippines in case of an attack on its territory or armed forces in the South China Sea, the Philippine foreign minister said on Wednesday, rejecting questioning of a security pact…. Read More ›
Manila’s apology to Hong Kong is a presage of a deal, not a fight
The following are the views of the author, and not necessarily those of China Daily Mail. Is it just a coincidence that the Philippine Government made a four-year late official apology to the families of eight Hong Kong tourists before… Read More ›
Courage and defiance: The Philippines act of standing up against China
I refer to the report of TJ Burgonio “Philippines defies China warning,” in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, March 29 with regard to the Philippines’ act of filing the pleading on the sea dispute. To quote from the said report: “Unfazed… Read More ›
China laying a trap for the Philippines in South China Sea, say experts
Beijing is laying a trap for the Philippines in disputed waters, experts say, waiting for an excuse to seize territory in the oil-rich Spratlys With tension running high between the Philippines and China because of their maritime dispute, one wrong… Read More ›
Philippines offers US forces access to military bases
The Philippines has agreed to allow the United States access to its military bases under a new security deal being negotiated by the two allies, amid mounting concern over China’s increasing assertiveness in the disputed waters of the South China… Read More ›
China warns Philippines: We will never tolerate ‘occupation’ of disputed shoal
China warned the Philippines on Monday to abandon a disputed shoal in the South China Sea after Manila said it planned to challenge a Chinese naval blockade of the area by sending supplies to its troops stationed there. Last week,… Read More ›
Philippines air-drops supplies to troops on disputed reef after ships blocked by China
The Philippines air-dropped food and water to soldiers posted on a grounded transport ship on a disputed South China Sea shoal, after China blocked two supply ships from reaching the troops, a senior navy official said on Wednesday. Chinese ships… Read More ›
China claims it forced Philippine ships away from disputed shoal
China said on Monday that coast guard ships had driven away two Philippine vessels which had tried to approach a shoal in the South China Sea in the latest flare-up of a long-running territorial dispute. The Chinese ships were patrolling… Read More ›
Philippines UN case means China may quit maritime pact to avoid submitting to judgement
A prominent Chinese academic says Beijing could withdraw from the UN’s maritime treaty rather than submit to judgement on its disputed sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. Regional security expert Professor Shen Dingli said the decision by the Philippines… Read More ›
China says medical team ready to rush to Philippines
China said on Monday it was ready to rush an emergency medical team to the Philippines to help survivors of the November 8 typhoon, and was just waiting for approval from Manila. China’s response to the disaster has been slow… Read More ›
Philippines expects early U.N. ruling on sea dispute with China
The Philippines expects an early ruling from the United Nations’ tribunal on its arbitration case questioning China’s claim on the South China Sea, Manila‘s foreign minister said on Thursday, in the first public announcement of hopes for a swift outcome…. Read More ›
China bans Philippines president unless Manila withdraws from territorial dispute
China has demanded the Philippines drop its arbitration case with the United Nations on territorial disputes as a condition for allowing President Benigno Aquino to visit a Chinese trade fair, diplomatic sources say. The demand prompted Aquino to cancel the… Read More ›
Hong Kong survivors of Manila bus hijacking suing the Philippines
Survivors of a 2010 bus hijacking in Manila are suing the Philippine government in Hong Kong, a move that comes on the third anniversary of the incident that left eight dead. According to Hong Kong-based solicitor John Clancey, two survivors… Read More ›
China says Philippines’ UN request on seas complicates issue
China said on Wednesday that a request by the Philippines for a U.N. tribunal to intervene in its longstanding South China Sea territorial dispute with China would only complicate the issue, and denounced Manila‘s “illegal occupation” of islands there. Manila… Read More ›
Philippines seeks U.N. help to resolve maritime row with China
The Philippines has asked an international tribunal to intervene in its long-standing South China Sea territorial dispute with China and declare that Beijing’s claims are invalid, the government said on Tuesday. Manila asked the tribunal of the U.N. Convention on… Read More ›
China is the trouble maker in the South China Sea
For the nth time, the giant bully has struck once again with another provocative statement. This time, ‘a state-owned Chinese news agency has called the Philippines a “trouble maker in the region”’. Not content on that label and being true… Read More ›
Cambodia’s subservience to China: a tale of treachery and selfishness
I refer to the AFP report concerning Manila’s act of summoning the Cambodian envoy. As reported by the said newspaper: “The Philippines has summoned Cambodia’s ambassador to explain comments he made accusing it and Vietnam of playing “dirty politics” in… Read More ›
Philippines: Chinese boats leave disputed lagoon
China has withdrawn its boats from the lagoon of a tiny South China Sea shoal following an agreement with the Philippines that at least temporarily eases the countries’ territorial dispute, officials in Manila said Monday. The Philippine government pulled out… Read More ›
No end of South China Sea troubles for China
Soon after both the Philippines and China withdrew their boats from the disputed Scarborough Shoal and its surrounding sea area on the excuse of poor weather, Philippine president Benigno Aquino III said on June 20 he would send ships back… Read More ›
Restraint agreed by Chinese and Philippine defence heads
According to China’s official Xinhua news agency and SCMP, there was a meeting between Chinese Defence Minister General Liang Guanglie and his Philippine counterpart Voltaire Gazmin on May 28 in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. They both agreed to restrain… Read More ›
Manila appoints envoy to Beijing
SCMP’s Raissa Robles reports that veteran diplomat Sonia Brady, familiar with Sino-Philippine relations, has been appointed the new Philippine ambassador to China. The appointment is waiting for parliamentary approval. It shows the Philippine president’s efforts to ease the tension in… Read More ›
Philippine president stopped veterans’ protest tour to Scarborough Shoal
Hong Kong media SCMP reports this morning, “At least two fishing vessels set to travel to disputed island in protest against Chinese ‘aggression’ as moves to resolve row over fishing rights continue.” It says the move “could complicate efforts by… Read More ›
Philippines seeks new markets amid sea dispute with China
The Philippines needs to develop new overseas markets so that a maritime standoff with China, which has thrown relations into turmoil, does not take a toll on tourism and fruit exports, a senior official said on Thursday. China has tightened… Read More ›
China’s “small stick” approach to South China Sea
In a month-long standoff between China and the Philippines over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, Beijing has so far refrained from sending warships from its increasingly powerful and modern navy to enforce its territorial claims. Instead, China… Read More ›
Sino-Philippine tension soon over, says Philippine President
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao reports: Philippine President Benigno Aquino III says that the tension between the Philippines and China over Scarborough Shoal (called Huangyan Island in China) will soon be resolved. The report by the Drum of the Philippines Broadcasting… Read More ›
China to enforce fishing ban in disputed waters of South China Sea
China is set to enforce its annual fishing ban in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), but the Philippines says it will not recognise the ban in waters both countries claim. The ban that begins Wednesday is meant to… Read More ›
Chinese Goverment denies army at ‘combat readiness’
China on Friday refuted allegations that troops in South China have been preparing for war. “The reports alleging that the PLA Guangzhou Military Area Command and the Navy’s South China Sea Fleet have entered combat readiness are not true,” the… Read More ›
China criticizes Philippines on South China Sea protest
China on Friday accused the Philippines of escalating an already tense territorial dispute over the South China Sea following a noisy but peaceful anti-Beijing protest in Manila. About 200 protesters, well below initial estimates, rallied in front of the Chinese… Read More ›
Philippines on alert over anti-China protest, Beijing frets
Security was tightened in the Philippines capital on Friday ahead of anti-Chinese protests over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea, with both Beijing and Taipei warning their citizens to be on guard for violence. Some 1,000 people from… Read More ›
China warns citizens ahead of Manila protest on Friday
China warned its citizens in Manila to stay off the streets and take precautions during planned anti-Chinese protests on Friday, a sign of mounting tensions during a standoff in the resource-rich South China Sea. The planned protest of about 1,000… Read More ›
U.S. triples military aid to Philippines in 2012
The United States will nearly triple its military funding for the Philippines this year, the Philippine foreign ministry said on Thursday, as tensions rise with China over disputed islands and Washington bolsters its alliance with Manila. However, the Philippines expressed… Read More ›
Manila stuns the world by standing up to Beijing
Sino-Philippine ties have sunk to an all-time low with armed vessels from both sides staking out a tiny atoll in the South China Sea that sinks at high tide.
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