Skip to main content

China Invades Philippines

President Benigno S. Aquino III said he has instructed the Dept. of Foreign Affairs to ask China to clarify reports saying Chinese authorities will board ships that will enter its territorial waters in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

In an interview here during a Liberal Party meeting, the President said he told Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario to raise the issue with China to know whether the action is an official state policy.

"Kung mapatunayan na meron talagang ganoong kautusan, hindi proposal, at talagang gagawin nila... maglo-lodge tayo ng isang diplomatic note or formal protest. And it also tells us where to go to in terms of advancing our interest," the President said.

"We might accelerate and bring it before the appropriate international tribunal to finally settle the matter, or at least start the process of settling it legally and concretely," he added.

Asked if he'll consider appealing to China not to exacerbate the situation, the President said he made it clear during the 21st ASEAN Summit in Cambodia, particularly during the East Asia Summit, that countries must work together to ease the tensions in the West Philippine Sea, and that everyone must show goodwill.

But the President said he doesn't want to jump into conclusions, that's why he asked the DFA to clarify the issue with China first before the Philippines does an appropriate response.

"Hintayin natin ma-determine fully kung ano ba talaga ang kanilang bagong patakaran, kung meron man. At kung mapatunayan..., kikilos tayo nang kaalinsunod doon sa…kung may kilos silang ganyan. Kung wala naman ay hindi tayo magdadagdag ng tensiyon," the President said.

China's state media said Thursday police in Hainan will board and search ships that will enter into what China considers its territorial waters in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

The new rules come into effect on Jan 1 and will allow Hainan police to board and seize control of foreign ships said to be illegally entering Chinese waters.

China claims sovereignty over most, if not all of the West Philippine Sea that is believed to be rich in natural gas and mineral deposits.

Aside from these resources, the area is important because it serves as a major sea lane to world's trade and commerce.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia all lay claims to the disputed territories.

The President also said the country may have a new ambassador to China by February to replace Sonia Brady who vacated the post a few months ago for health reasons.

He said that he will discuss the matter with Secretary Del Rosario Monday.

He said the Foreign Secretary had told him about a very capable candidate for the post.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Iran will start exporting gas to Iraq

Iran will start exporting gas to Iraq within the next three months, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said on Sunday. Qasemi, who met with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi in Baghdad, said the agreement on Iranian gas supplies to Iraq had "reached the stage of final signing." "The launch of gas exports will proceed by stages, First, gas will start to be supplied to Baghdad and then, within another three months, to Basra," official news agency IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying. Iraq is expected to consume about 20-25 million cubic meters of Iranian gas per day. Iran, which has the world's second largest natural gas reserves after Russia, is also close to signing an agreement on gas supplies to Syria via Iraq, Qasemi said. "The signing of this agreement will take place in Tehran with the participation of representatives from the three countries," the Iranian oil minister said. In the summer of 2010, Iran, Iraq and Syria signed a memora...
Post a Comment
Read more

Buried Treasures in Bohol Philippines

Written by Joe Espiritu       Four persons died in a treasure hunting accident last week. They died for nothing. Many had lost their shirts in the venture, the propensity for Filipinos to get rich quick attribute to the treasure hunting mania. The sad part is that only the ignorant venture on the search, those in the know, being sure that nothing will come out of the effort would not think of investing money, time and effort – this time lives – in a fruitless enterprise.        There had been stories of people getting rich uncovering treasure troves in unlikely places. Most stories are false. Ancient graves of archeological and anthropological value had been desecrated by treasure hunters. They had found nothing. Those people may have struck it rich but not from some hidden riches. Contrary to what other people say, there are no buried treasures in Bohol . If there had been, they were unearthed years ago.         If one ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fast Website Speed Affects Google Search Ranking

Over the course of 2009, a consistent theme that Google has been involved with is that of speed. In announcement after announcement, Google has talked about the importance of speed on the web, and how the company wants to do everything it can to make the web a faster place. Has it occurred to you that how fast your page loads may have a direct effect on how your site ranks in Google?  Don't worry, it hasn't had an impact...yet. In an interview with WebProNews , Google's Matt Cutts told us that speed may soon be a ranking factor.  "Historically, we haven't had to use it in our search rankings, but a lot of people within Google think that the web should be fast," says Cutts. "It should be a good experience, and so it's sort of fair to say that if you're a fast site, maybe you should get a little bit of a bonus. If you really have an awfully slow site, then maybe users don't want that as much." "I think a lot of people in 2010 are g...
Post a Comment
Read more