MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine president acknowledged Sunday that he can be impeached if he concedes his country’s territorial claims in the South China Sea in talks with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders this week in Beijing. President Rodrigo Duterte said in a speech before leaving for Brunei and China that while he […]
But the President says he will ask China to allow Filipino fishermen to fish in the West Philippine Sea MANILA, Philippines – Days before his visit to China, President Rodrigo Duterte said he would likely not dwell on Scarborough Shoal, an area in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) being claimed by both the […]
MANILA – The Philippines must assert its claim over its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) now more than ever, as it has to begin looking for a substitute to the Malampaya gas field, which supplies 40 percent of Luzon’s energy, and will run out of gas in 10 years. This is according to Supreme Court Senior […]
Duterte is questioning the Philippines’ century-old US alliance while ramping up his diplomatic flirtation with China. “I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people,” proclaimed Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ controversial leader. It was a defiant remark in response to […]
‘We cannot win that,’ President Rodrigo Duterte said of Scarborough Shoal this week. ‘We can’t beat” China. Next week Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who took power in late June, will make his first state visit to China. Of course he’s hoping for a bonanza of loans and trade deals. What he’s not expecting or demanding: […]
Speaking on Monday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told an audience of local government officials that the country should not “dwell on Scarborough Shoal.” According to a translation of his Tagalog remarks posted by Rappler, Duterte said the Philippines should not dwell “because we don’t have the capabilities.” “Even if we express anger, it will just […]
To stake its claim in the strategic South China Sea, China is building airstrips, ports, and other facilities on disputed islands and reefs. Scientists say the activities are destroying key coral reef ecosystems and will heighten the risks of a fisheries collapse in the region. In the late 1980s, marine biologist John McManus and his […]
Next week Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who took power in late June, will make his first state visit to China. Of course he’s hoping for a bonanza of loans and trade deals. What he’s not expecting or demanding: the return of Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines in 2012, sparking demonstrations by Filipinos […]
A fishing boat in Vietnam. Vietnam is one of the major players in the South China Sea dispute. It’s been nearly three months since the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague issued its landmark ruling in the Philippines vs. China case, resulting in a nearly unanimous victory for Manila and a humiliating legal defeat […]
Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May 21, 2015. A top mainland research institute is developing the world’s smallest nuclear […]