Category: Foreign Affairs

State Dept official: U.S. takes no position on South China Sea conflict

Published by Ellen on January 23, 2015

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel in a pre-departure interview. With him is U.S. Embassy Press Attache Kurt Hoyer.

China’s activities in the South China Sea, not surprisingly, figured prominently in the fifth Philippines-United States Bilateral Strategic Dialogue held Tuesday and Wednesday in Manila.

The joint statement on the meeting, co-chaired by Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Evan P. Garcia and Undersecretary of National Defense Pio Lorenzo F. Batino for the Philippines and by Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel and Assistant Secretary of Defense David Shear for the United States, stated that “ The two sides expressed concern over developments in the South China Sea that are inconsistent with the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and international law and emphasized the importance of upholding peace and stability, respect for international law, unimpeded lawful commerce, and freedom of navigation and over flight. “

The joint statement further said, “ The two sides reiterated that international disputes in the South China Sea should be settled in accordance with international law, and through diplomatic and other peaceful means, including the use of international arbitration.

Heartbreaking

Published by Ellen on December 18, 2014

The world is no stranger to heinous crimes but nothing is more abominable that the massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar, a large valley close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,Tuesday.

This is excerpts from a New York Times report:

“First the Pakistani Taliban bombed or burned over 1,000 schools. Then they shot Malala Yousafzai, the teenage advocate for girls’ rights.

“But on Tuesday, the Taliban took their war on education to a ruthless new low with an assault on a crowded school in Peshawar that killed 145 people — 132 of them uniformed schoolchildren — in the deadliest single attack in the group’s history.

Taiwan’s Christmas offering: Watch a movie, win a mountain bike

Published by Ellen on December 16, 2014

Do you want to win a mountain bike, a laptop, a 42-inch TV, and a cellphone?

Watch a short film titled “Together We Can” and you may get any one of those items for free.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines is inviting everyone to Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines is inviting all Filipinos to participate in a nationwide contest that offers three Taiwan Giant mountain bicycle Talon as prizes for the grand winners.

Aside from the grand prizes TECO said there will be six second prizes (Taiwan Acer Laptop), seven third prizes (Taiwan TECO LED 42-inch TV) and 14 special prizes (Taiwan ASUS FonePad 7 cell phone).

Vietnam delivered when the Philippines needed it most

Published by Ellen on December 14, 2014

Alliance forged.Pres. Aquino and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Malacanang May 2014. — Alliance forged. Pres. Aquino and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Malacanang May 2014.

It means a lot to the Philippines that Vietnam submitted a Position Paper to the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations that is handling the complaint filed by the Philippines against China on the conflict in the South China Sea.

Probably so as not to further antagonize China, with whom the Philippines has rekindled relations marked by the meeting of President Aquino with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs in reaction to the statement of Vietnam was sober.

The statement, released three days after Vietnam made public the Dec. 4 submission to the U.N. Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague, said: “PH has had close consultations with Vietnam, bilaterally as well as within ASEAN, on claims and issues in the South China Sea. We now understand that Vietnam has made its position on our arbitration case known to the Tribunal. This is not wholly unexpected, since Vietnam naturally seeks to protect its own interests. What we understand, however, consistent with our previous discussions, is that the Vietnam’s basic position largely accords with ours with regards to the South China Sea.

Vietnam supports PH position: UN tribunal has jurisdiction on South China Sea dispute

Published by Ellen on December 13, 2014

Water cannon fight in Paracels between China and Vietnam last May.

By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files

The Philippine case against China’s nine-dash line before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal gained support from Vietnam in a statement it submitted to the court in The Hague on Thursday.

The Vietnam Foreign Ministry said the tribunal has jurisdiction to settle disputes concerning the interpretation of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China’s position paper shows wide gap with PH stand

Published by Ellen on December 10, 2014

Pres. Aquino and Pres. Xi Jinping, Beijing Nov 2014

The Position Paper of China on the case filed by the Philippines with the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal showed the wide gap between the two countries as regards their conflicting claims on th South China Sea islands, reefs and rocks.

The meeting between President Aquino and Chinese President Xi Jinping may have lowered the tension but the two countries are really far apart in attitude and perspective.

Example:

Before the meeting of Leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Beijing last month, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said their bringing unilaterally the territorial conflict with China before the U.N. court is not an unfriendly act.

China: UN tribunal has no jurisdiction on case filed by PH

Published by Ellen on December 7, 2014

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

China insisted Sunday that the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal has no jurisdiction on the complaint filed by the Philippines seeking to declare null and void the nine-dash line on China’s maps.

China’s 27-page position paper, posted on the website of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came eight days before the Dec. 15 deadline given by the U.N. court for Beijing to answer the Philippine complaint filed on Jan. 22, 2013.

With or without China’s reply, the U.N. court will start the hearings.

EDCA minus Gazmin’s illusions

Published by Ellen on December 2, 2014

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and U.S. Ambassador Phillip Goldberg after signing the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin had no choice but to say what EDCA, the agreement he signed with the United States Ambassador Philip Goldberg last April 28, really is under strict questioning by Sen. Miriam Santiago, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

EDCA stands for Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement which allows the U.S. to set up camps within Philippine military camps despite the Constitutional prohibition that “military bases, foreign military bases, troops, or facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when the Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a national referendum held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty by the other contracting State. “

To sell EDCA to the Filipino public, the Aquino government led by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Gazmin demonized China and said with the agreement, the U.S. will come to the aid of the Philippines in case there will be an armed conflict with China in the Spratlys, where both the Philippines and China have conflicting territorial claims.

Last Monday, Gazmin admitted that there is no such guarantee.

10 min Aquino-Xi talk paves way for major policy shift towards China

Published by Ellen on November 13, 2014

Pres. Xi welcomes Pres. Aquino to APEC 2014

It took only ten minutes under the chilly air at the lakeside garden in the suburb of Beijing to thaw the two-year frosty relationship between the Philippines and China.

President Aquino and Chinese President Xi Jinping pulled aside during the tree-planting ceremony last Nov. 11 at at the Summer Garden of the International Conference Center at Yanqi Lake, where 21 leaders of the Asia pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) met the day before, talked briefly, both expressing the desire for relations between their the two countries to improve from a severely strained connection that it is now.

Aquino described the 10-minute talk which was pre-arranged (they did not have a formal meeting which usually lasts 25 to 30 minutes) as “Medyo extensive” reflecting the importance he attached to it and what the brief meeting achieved.

APEC summit: an opportunity for renewal of PH-China ties

Published by Ellen on November 9, 2014

Pres. Aquino arrives in Beijing. Photo by Xinhua.

President Aquino today is in a lakeside resort in Yanqihu, 50 kilometers from Beijing, for the 22nd summit of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC.

China's President Xi Jinping — China’s President Xi Jinping

This is the first time that Aquino and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a chance for greetings more than just “hello” and “goodbye”.

Aquino has announced there is no scheduled bilateral meeting between him and Xi during the two-day Beijing summit.

The Department of Foreign Affairs was working on a pull-aside meeting (about 10 to 15 minutes) on the sidelines of the Summit but if even that is not possible they see a chance “to break the ice” in the frosty relations between the two countries during the turnover of the hosting Leaders Meeting towards the end of the meeting on Tuesday.