THE news that the Philippines has given its consent to China to conduct scientific research in Benham Rise, renamed Philippine Rise, has provoked much controversy. The Benham Rise, with a submarine area roughly the size of Greece, is believed to be rich in gas deposits. There is, therefore, great anxiety,…
31ST ASEAN SUMMIT
THE Duterte administration has pursued a foreign policy strategy that has had the beneficial effects of reducing the tension in the South China Sea, restoring good relations between the Philippines and China, and gaining respect for the Philippines’ geopolitical strategic importance in the region. With the Philippines’ chairmanship of Asean…
Last of 2 parts THE United States of America also holds that there is no right of a state to secede from the union. President Abraham Lincoln had argued that “the states were not sovereign before the Constitution but instead, they were created by it.” The US Supreme Court ruled…
First of 2 parts THE crisis in Spain’s autonomous region of Catalonia posed the question whether the Catalans’ “democratic opposition” to Spain’s Constitution of 1978 could prevail. The Spanish Constitution was a work of reconciliation by all the political parties of Spain (including the Communist Party of Spain), after the…
WITH its new status as an economic superpower, China proposed “new normal” relations with the United States to the previous Obama administration, based on the following principles: 1) recognition of each other’s core interests; 2) no conflicts; 3) no threats or intimidation; and 4) mutual respect. According to Ambassador Wu…
FOREIGN Secretary Perfecto Yasay recently revealed that the Philippines has filed a diplomatic protest with China through a third person note verbale, upon verification of the report by the Washington-based CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative that China appears to have built anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons on its man-made islands in…
Remember that scene in the spoof of “Airplane” where the Afro-Americans’ talking was given English subtitles? I am sometimes reminded of it when I see or read officials explaining President Duterte’s recent pronouncements on Philippines-United States relations. The scene is funny because it touches on a truth about English as…
Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua recently disclosed that China has four secrets, which have made it possible for China to rise and become a global economic power: (1) good leaders; (2) good policies consistently followed over a long-term period; (3) a hard working population; and (4) a peaceful and secure environment.…
The Arbitration Tribunal of the Law of the Sea resolved bilateral issues between the Philippines and China, especially confirming that the Philippines has sovereign rights over a 200-mile EEZ and Continental Shelf in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea pursuant to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.…
Now the country needs quiet negotiations in invoking rule of law THE Philippines won in almost all its submissions against China in the South China Sea award by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNLOS) Arbitration Tribunal, including the main issues that compelled the Philippines to urgently…