(On Tuesday, Nov. 17, on the sidelines of the 23rd APEC Leaders Meeting, President Aquino and Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang will hold bilateral talks in Malacanang. They will finally be signing the “Joint Statement on the Establishment of a Strategic Partnership between the Republic of the Philippines and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” which
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS SOUTH China Sea looms large even if it is not in the agenda of the 23rd meeting of the leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Manila on Nov. 18 and 19. Foreign Undersecretary Lula del Rosario, chair of the APEC 2015 Senior Officials Meetings, which did all the
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario’s dogged determination to pursue the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea dispute through the rule of law has proven his approach correct. The court ruled that the case was “properly constituted” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, that China’s “non-appearance” (i.e., refusal to participate) did not
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS NO amount of China’s protestation that the Oct 29 decision of the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal is “null and void” and it has “no binding effect” on them, cancels the fact that it’s a major blow to them. Filipinos, on the other hand, should understand that the U.N. Arbitral Court’s decision,
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS China is not honoring the decision of the United Nations Arbitral Court that it has jurisdiction on the case filed by the Philippines against it, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement today. China instead urged the Philippines to resolve the dispute through negotiations and consultations. “The award rendered
The United Nations Arbitral Tribunal ruled on Thursday that it has jurisdiction to hear the case filed by the Philippines against China over the disputed areas in the South China Sea. In its claim, the Philippines asked the arbitral tribunal to rule on three basic issues: The validity of China’s nine-dash lines Low tide elevations
The commander of United States Pacific Fleet said it is the stand of the United States that international law allows them to conduct military activities in the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zones of other countries. Admiral Scott Harbison Swift , who was in the country last week as part of his familiarization tour having
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS THE Republic of China (ROC) or Taiwan has its issue with mainland China (PROC-People’s Republic of China) but in matters of ownership of almost the whole of South China Sea, they have the same line. In the statement released by Taiwan Tuesday, it asserted that Nansha islands also known as
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS and TESSA JAMANDRE Despite the presence of a high-level Philippine team at the hearing of the Philippines’ case against China before the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) this week, the issue of who owns the contested islands in the South China
The Philippine government will be submitting to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague this week an almost 300-year-old map of the Philippines showing the disputed Scarborough Shoal being part of Philippine territory as far back as three centuries ago. The map debunks the so-called nine-dash-line China has been using as proof of
