The Philippines and Taiwan have agreed to avoid armed confrontations in dealing with fishing disputes. Henceforth, we will share maritime law enforcement, notifying each other posthaste whenever actions are taken against vessels and crews of one or the other.
China is currently experiencing an economic slowdown. It relies on exports, but sadly the global demand for its products is declining. Meanwhile, property prices in China are soaring, and its smokestack industries have polluted its air. We recall that sometime ago news broke out that infant milk products made in China were laced with poison and killed many babies. It is feared that those who survived might have contracted various physical defects. (Here in the Philippines, some China products were pulled out after being found to contain or to be contaminated with a high level of toxicity.)
We are in between worlds, established superpower America of the West and emerging superpower China of the East. It is a contrast territorially and ideologically. The contrast of sunrise and sunset had carried with it much conflict historically. When the West discovered the East, expansionism by conquest and/or trade was the order of the day. For several centuries, relationships were defined by violence and greed.
What can legally be said about the incursions of Chinese fishing and other vessels into Philippine waters? The first thing, of course, is to look into the laws that govern the seas.
Today our attention is on the Ayungin Shoal in the Spratlys. Fortunately we have presence in this particular area, with Navy personnel stationed on a grounded Philippine Navy vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre. But certain actions have to be taken to strengthen our position here.
After reading about Dan Brown’s new book “Inferno” describing Manila as “a run through the gates of hell,” I was saddened but decided to see where he is coming from and if he is justified in saying it.
The latest incursion into Philippine territory by Chinese warships and fishing vessels has been at Ayungin Shoal in the Spratlys, one of hundreds of islands, reefs and atolls in the archipelago.
We seldom buy newspapers but on May 23 my son, Ron, came with the day’s Inquirer issue in hand. I started reading the paper and suddenly I was reading Ceres Doyo’s column (“Becoming the world’s most bullied”). I liked the column and I praise Doyo for her opinion. I agree that we are the world’s most bullied nation.
Walk softly and carry a big stick. Theodore Roosevelt’s dictum of practical diplomacy works only if a big stick is handy, like a powerful navy that has just circled the world. In the matter of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the Philippines does not wield anything that can be mistaken for a [...]
The steel-hulled Chinese boat that ran aground on Tubbataha Reef on April 8 is still there—and the longer it stays stuck, the more the important questions gain traction.
Last Feb. 19, the Chinese Foreign Ministry, through Ambassador Ma Keqing, sent a diplomatic note to our Department of Foreign Affairs that it was rejecting the Philippine notice to arbitrate and the statement of claims on the West Philippine Sea controversy. This was the arbitration resorted to by the Philippines to challenge the legality of China’s nine-dash lines under the compulsory and mandatory dispute settlement procedure of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). This effectively means that China has snubbed the arbitration and will not participate in the proceedings.
Is the Philippine government not falling into a Byzantine international snare? Is the government not thinking that the United States and China are intentionally fomenting disputes in the Asian region? These queries are being raised because the results are obvious.
