Home » territorial disputes
You are browsing entries tagged with “territorial disputes”
The government’s decision to challenge China’s expansive claims to the South China Sea by invoking the arbitration provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) is both unexpected and overdue. Many simply assumed that the government’s legal option (its so-called third track of resolving the conflict in territorial and maritime claims, after political means and diplomatic measures) meant filing a case before the right court; in this case, the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, or Itlos, in Hamburg, Germany. At the same time, the clear and compelling arguments for the Philippine case fed a growing impatience for legal action; why was the Department of Foreign Affairs taking so long?
Posted: January 28th, 2013 in Editor's Pick,Editorial,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Juan L. Mercado
“ONCE AGAIN, Cambodia tried to pull a fast one on the Philippines and other Asean countries involved in territorial disputes with China,” the Inquirer noted in Thursday’s editorial on the just concluded 21st Asean Summit in Phnom Penh.
Posted: November 23rd, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Featured Columns,Featured Headline,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Bobby M. Tuazon
In dealing with China particularly on territorial disputes, the Philippines’ foreign policy makers still live in the Cold War era. The Aquino administration lacks strategic thinkers and talks through variant voices, with its “backdoor diplomacy” compromised by leaks and acrimonious public debates.
Posted: October 15th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Hermenegildo C. Cruz
When the Panatag Shoal became the subject of a territorial dispute between the Philippines and China, the Philippine government decided to send to China Sonia Brady, a retired ambassador, on the grounds that she had previously served there and had established valuable contacts. It was a risky choice because of her age, and it failed. Moreover, it may have been based on a faulty assumption. In her previous assignments in China, Ambassador Brady may not have established any contacts at all with the officials who decide foreign policy.
Posted: September 17th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
There are many situations where the mind of a businessman can solve problems and break deadlocks where the mind of a politician cannot. Often, the businessman—thinking only in terms of pesos and centavos—can formulate innovative solutions that are beyond the imagination of the politician who is hobbled by having to balance a million and one considerations for a multitude of stakeholders. Indeed, a pragmatic businessman can move things forward in ways a pragmatic politician cannot.
Posted: May 21st, 2012 in Editor's Pick,Editorial | Read More »
By Cielito F. Habito
One hundred fifty container loads of Philippine bananas are being left to rot in the Chinese ports of Dalian, Shanghai and Xingang, according to reports that came over the weekend. Our own government officials have been quick to play down any link between the holding of the banana shipments and the ongoing tension at the Panatag Shoal. But even if there wasn’t such a link before, who would believe there wouldn’t be one now?
Posted: May 15th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
From Lapu-Lapu to Jose Rizal, Philippine history is replete with people who fought against overwhelming odds and won. Of course, we were still colonized by the Spaniards and Americans, occupied by the Japanese and subjugated by a home-grown dictator. But the point is the Filipino spirit is indomitable and, despite the awesome might of our oppressors, we still prevailed in the end.
Posted: May 15th, 2012 in Inquirer Opinion,Letters to the Editor | Read More »
By Amando Doronila
The maritime standoff between the Philippines and China in the disputed Scarborough Shoal escalated into an economic conflict on Friday following a Chinese clampdown on Philippine banana exports to China and on travel of Chinese tourists to the country.
Posted: May 14th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Editor's Pick,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
Manila should not get deep into a tit for tat with Beijing over the Scarborough Shoal dispute despite the two capitals trading barbs against each other.
Posted: May 13th, 2012 in Editor's Pick,Editorial,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas S. J.
Both the Philippines and China continue to assert sovereignty over the same area in the South China Sea. We therefore have an “international dispute,” an element necessary before one can go to an international court. We want to settle the dispute through the judicial resolution provision in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos); but China does not. That is the bind we are in.
Posted: May 13th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
By Conrado de Quiros
Tatagalugin ko na at mukhang di mo talaga makuha. O kaya e nagbubulag-bulagan ka lang. Ang pinakamahirap gisingin ay di ’yung tulog kundi ’yung nagtutulog-tulugan, ang pinakamahirap pakitain ay ’yung nagbubulag-bulagan.
Posted: May 13th, 2012 in Columnists,Columns,Inquirer Opinion | Read More »
Christine Avendaño (“What’s in a name? Scarborough, Panatag or Bajo de Masinloc?” Inquirer, 4/29/12) gives three Philippine names for the 150-square kilometer shoal whose ownership is now being disputed by the Philippines and China. There is a fourth and earlier name: Panacot, which is found in the first detailed map of the Philippines made in 1734 by Jesuit Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde and Filipino engraver Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay.
Posted: May 13th, 2012 in Inquirer Opinion,Letters to the Editor | Read More »
