[MERGED] Philippines vs. China and the Spratlys Situation

[lagalagdakila]

webster should really consider putting CHINA as a synonym of BULLYING...

[the_who68]

President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday called for a calm approach in resolving conflicts peacefully, specially the geopolitical issues with China in the West Philippine Sea.

The world will witness Philippine efforts to make peace with China over tensions regarding the disputed West Philippine (South China) Sea, the President said in an ambush interview with reporters at the 114th Foundation Anniversary of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pasay City.

Asked if the Philippines is capable of engaging China in armed conflict should the tensions with Beijing further escalate, Aquino said, “We are always ready... based on our own limitations. Pero... having thoughts of armed conflict.. enhance the prospects of having an armed conflict...

Most Chinese and foreign security policy analysts believe China wants to avoid military conflict across sea lanes that carry an annual $5 trillion in ship-borne trade, particularly if it raises the prospect of US intervention, according to a Reuters report Thursday.

However, they say Beijing is increasingly determined to block any unified effort from rival claimants to negotiate over disputes, preferring instead to isolate much smaller and weaker states in direct talks.

China has adopted a more aggressive stance in recent weeks on territorial disputes in the South China Sea as hard-line officials and commentators call on Beijing to take a tougher line with rival claimants.

“China's supreme policymaking body, the Politburo Standing Committee, is made up entirely of civilians, but outspoken People's Liberation Army (***) officers, intelligence advisers and maritime agency chiefs are arguing that Beijing should be more forceful in asserting its sovereignty over the sea and the oil and natural gas believed to lie under the sea-bed,” Reuters noted.

Most of them blame the United States' so-called strategic "pivot" to Asia for emboldening neighboring countries, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam, to challenge China's claims, the report added.

"China now faces a whole pack of aggressive neighbors headed by Vietnam and the Philippines and also a set of menacing challengers headed by the United States, forming their encirclement from outside the region," wrote Xu Zhirong, a deputy chief captain with China Marine Surveillance, in the June edition of China Eye, a publication of the Hong Kong-based China Energy Fund Committee, Reuters reported.

"And, such a band of eager lackeys is exactly what the US needs for its strategic return to Asia," he wrote.

The Philippines and China have been locked in a standoff over Panatag Shoal since April, with both countries claiming sovereign rights over the shoal.

“So ulitin ko lang ho, sinabi ko nung SONA… kailangan nating ng hinahon, kailangan ng pagsasaliksik ng mabuti at mareresolba natin ‘yan at talagang mapapangalagaan natin ang interes ng sambayanan,” said Aquino.

“And let us reiterate, our interest is a peaceful resolution of this conflict,” he added.

Tourism and bananas

A retired journalist who was based in Beijing said during a forum Friday in the financial district of Makati the dispute with China is bad for business.

It could mean a “difficult period” for the country’s banana exports and tourism industry, where China plays a significant role, said Emmy award-winning journalist Chito Santa Romana, a former Beijing bureau chief of ABC News.

“I think there is still a potential for developing banana exports (and tourism). But we’re going through a difficult period right now,”

In the heat of the standoff over Panatag Shoal last May, China imposed tighter phytosanitary measures for Philippine bananas after it allegedly saw bugs in the shipments.

Also last May, China issued an advisory suspending tourism flights to the Philippines after Filipino society groups staged a protest against Beijing’s growing aggression in West Philippine Sea. The protest was staged in front of the Chinese consulate in Makati City.

Santa Romana said the Philippines and China should “get (the dispute) off the back-burner” to normalize trade relations with the world’s second largest economy.

“You need gestures of good will on both sides and we have to meet halfway in order to meet normal relations,” Santa Romana said during a forum on the impact of the Panatag Shoal dispute on the Philippine economy.

The Philippine-China Conflict Forum was organized by the Center for Philippine Futuristics.

China is the fourth largest source of foreign visitors in the Philippines. Tourist arrivals from China increased by 29.7 percent to 243,137 in 2011 from 187,446 in 2010.

Before the travel advisory was issued by China, the Philippines was targeting 2 million Chinese tourists by 2016, Santa Romana said. — With a report by Marc Cayabya/BM/VS, GMA News

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...ace-with-china

[the_who68]

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said in his state of the union address on July 23 that the Philippines had shown “restraint” during the Huangyan Island stand-off in the South China Sea. It is ridiculous to say that Manila has shown “restraint.”

Look what the Philippines has done. It has built a kindergarten on China’s Zhongye Island without the permission of the Chinese government, bid out oil and gas exploration areas in China’s territorial waters, sent warships to harass Chinese fishermen in the Huangyan Island waters, held joint military drills with the United States involving the exercise of retaking petroleum drilling platform, threatened to invite U.S. reconnaissance aircraft to patrol disputed areas in the South China Sea, and tried to take advantage of the South China Sea issue to “kidnap” the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The South China Sea would have been much more peaceful if without the successive little tricks of the Philippines.

Restraint is one of the main principles established in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed between China and the ASEAN 10 years ago.

According to Article V of the declaration, the parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would not complicate or escalate disputes nor affect peace and stability including, among others, refraining from inhabiting currently uninhabited islands, reefs, shoals, cays, and other features, and to handle their differences in a constructive manner.

Restraint requires the concerted efforts of both sides. The situation will worsen if one side exercises restraint, while the other refuses or pretends to do so.

None of the Philippines’ dirty little tricks will change the fact that Huangyan Island belongs to China. As tensions have eased over the Huangyan Island dispute, China hopes the Philippines will take more actions that will help further ease the tense situation and promote the healthy development of China-Philippines relations. This serves the fundamental interests of both countries and their people, and will help promote peace in the Asia-Pacific region.

Read the Chinese version: 菲总统竟有底气大谈“克制”？, source: People's Daily, author: Zhong Sheng

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/7889468.html

[the_who68]

China appoints military OICs over Spratlys garrison; US joins Philippines, Vietnam, in voicing concern

MANILA, Philippines - (UPDATE2 - 4:19 a.m.) The United States has voiced concern over Chinese plans to put up a military garrison in disputed territory in the South China Sea even as China named military officials who will be in charge of the facility in Sansha City.

US State Department spokesperon Victoria Nulad said they prefer that all parties involved in territorial disputes in the region work on crafting a code of conduct and resolve issues at the negotiating table.

The Chinese defense ministry announced the appointments Thursday, the China Daily said.

Appointed were Senior Colonel Cai Xihong as the garrison's commander and Senior Colonel Liao Chaoyi as its political commissar, China Daily reported, quoting ministry spokesman Yang Yujun.

Yang said that the garrison has responsibility for defense mobilization, guarding the city and disaster relief, among other functions.

However, he added that a separate maritime garrison under the Chinese navy was responsible for maritime defense and military combat, appearing to suggest that the Sansha garrison would not have such responsibilities.

"Whether a military establishment has combat forces or not depends on its military tasks," he said, according to China Daily.

Large building has bank, polilce station, telco office

State media have carried photos of a large domed and pillared building that serves as the city's administrative center on the island of Yongxing, as well as images of a police station, a bank, a telecom office and residents relaxing outside humble wooden dwellings.

The three-floor building that state media said came into use on July 20 appears by far to be the biggest structure on the small island, which from photos appears largely covered in thick, green vegetation, including palm trees.

While Chinese media accounts of Yongxing's population vary, it appears to be not much bigger than 1,000 people.

Manila, Hanoi react

Vietnam and the Philippines condemned China's decision earlier this week to set up the garrison, with Hanoi on Tuesday filing a formal protest and Manila lodging a complaint with China's ambassador.

Yang said how China deploys its military within its own borders is irrelevant to other countries, China Daily said.

The city of Sansha lies on the island of Yongxing in the disputed Paracel Islands. The region is also north of the Spratly Islands, which are also subject to rival claims.

China says it owns much of the South China Sea, though Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia each claim portions of it.

The dispute has simmered for decades, though tensions have risen markedly recently as China has moved to more strongly assert its territorial claims.

The Association of Southeast Nations at a summit earlier this month failed for the first time in 45 years to issue a joint statement, as members were unable to agree on how to refer to China's behavior in the disputed waters.

China says it is acting within its rights, though its moves have raised alarm bells in the region and beyond.

Beijing is also involved in a separate dispute with Japan over islands in the East China Sea.

China is seen as unlikely to alter its stance, despite growing international criticism.

"China will certainly continue reinforcing its political and military control over Sansha as it has drawn lessons from maritime disputes in the past," Zhang Zhexin, a US studies expert with the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, was quoted by China Daily as saying.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/3...oicing-concern

[andresbonifacio2]

PHL urged to send own fishing fleet to South China Sea

Abandon all hope.

Our president favors a "no-presence policy". Sovereign rights is 90% presence. He should have learned from the squatters he "saved" from demolitions.

The president favors no usage of the EEZ.

Lastly no improvement in the support of our citizens in Pag-asa island. Even the CCT don't reach them.

[kuroihikari]

Reminder again, as per the posting guidelines in LAFI in the sticky thread:

Please limit posting news articles to a title, summary or excerpt, and a link back to the original source. No need to post the entire thing, that's why there's a link.

[victoryliner]

Palace keeps out of US criticism vs China’s military garrison plan
July 29, 2012 10:35am

link: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...-garrison-plan

Chinese vessels at Panatag Shoal down to three – DFA
By MICHAELA DEL CALLAR July 27, 2012 3:26pm

link: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...hree-ndash-dfa

[fattyacid]

kung mangyari man yan now, hello, ginegera na ang Pilipinas, hindi pa ba tayo makikipagpatayan laban sa mga singkit na yan? ubusan ng lahi na ito people! kaya go go go Pilipinas! hehe

[anonymouss]

kung mangyari man yan now, hello, ginegera na ang Pilipinas, hindi pa ba tayo makikipagpatayan laban sa mga singkit na yan? ubusan ng lahi na ito people! kaya go go go Pilipinas! hehe

sige mauna ka na. Baka naman umiyak ka lang pag gyera na talaga

[Qubetha]

ang suwerte naman ng mga tsinong nyan naka sungkit ng kalaban na kaunti o talagang iilan lang ang mga war materials di tulad nila kaya't ang tatapang idagdag pa na maganda ang ekonomiya at marami sila (1.3 billion) talagang mga abusado lamunin sana sila ng dagat isa rin sila sa pumapatay at dumudumi ng karagatan honestly!

[kramporter]

Idaan na lang kase sa Olympics.

[victoryliner]

Palace awaits reports on Chinese ships' leaving disputed area
July 30, 2012 9:32am

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...-disputed-area

China aims to land probe on moon next year
July 30, 2012 8:04pm

link: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...moon-next-year

[AbulugAdventure]

...tapos yung mga estupidong komunistang NDF bayaran ng gobyernong Incheck beho a, mahigpit ang pagtutol sa AFP modernization? Ayos rin sila, ano? Sila kaya isangkalan natin sa mga pwersa ng gobyernong Ichek beho?! Dispalinghado na nga ang mga gamit natin tapos e tututulan nila yung pag-aarmas natin?

[prEttyInDistr3ss]

Idaan na lang kase sa Olympics.

Sports and Politics are 2 diff stuff....

[jpd74]

lamang nga ang china sa tally of medals sa london olympics eh , 2nd lang ang us ...

[Kaltenbrunner]

Puros made in china kasi equipment sa olympics

[victoryliner]

China establishes combat-ready patrol system in West Philippine Sea
July 31, 2012 6:15pm

link: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...philippine-sea

[Fitna]

nasa tip na sila ng palawan!

News Yahoo pakapal ng pakapal ng mukha

[anonymouss]

Di bale, may dalawang malakas na bagyo ang sabay na tatama sa china hehe

[The Bumper]

Sana lamunin ng alon ang mga trespasser sa Pilipinas.