By ELLEN TORDESILLAS ALARM bells rang again with the announcement last week by China that Hainan, its southernmost province, was implementing a Fishery Law that requires foreign fishing boats to get its approval when venturing into the South China Sea starting Jan. 1, 2014. Hainan, with an area of 32,900 square kilometers, is China’s
THE possibility of China pulling out of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has been mentioned in informal discussions among foreign affairs experts and observers but it was the first time that a Chinese scholar said it in public. Shen Dingli, speaking to reporters after his speech in a forum “What
THE concrete blocks in Bajo de Masinloc, which Philippine defense and military officials last month accused China of putting there, may have actually been placed by the United States Navy decades ago, military sources said. A military investigation found that the concrete slabs were covered by algae, an indication that they had been in the area
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS Concrete blocks or just rocks and corals? That is the latest question troubling the strained relationship between the Philippines and China over the disputed Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, off the South China Sea. This time, though, the dispute is playing out through photographs, more than words. A week
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS THE decision of U.S President Barack Obama to get the approval of Congress before he orders a missile attack on Syria should shatter the illusion of those who believe that America will immediately come to the rescue of the Philippines in the unlikely event of an armed conflict between the Philippines
CHINESE Foreign Secretary Wang Yi made an offer yesterday during the Asean Regional Forum in Brunei that rendered the articulate Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario speechless. Del Rosario told reporters that Wang said “Scarborough and Ayungin were theirs, historically, and we were the ones sending ships, interdicting their fishermen, and the grounded ship has
IN Bangkok last week, the commander of the United States Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, said the usual line that their Asian allies expect from visiting American officials: we will oppose China’s expansionism. “We will oppose the change of status quo by force of anyone,” Locklear said referring to the situation in South China Sea
IT was 1974 and I was taking up an advanced course in Mechanical Engineering at the US Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
CHINA on Tuesday announced that it returned the Philippine notification of its suit filed at a United Nations arbitral court handed to the Chinese ambassador in Manila last. Jan 22, a Xinhua report said. The report carried by China.org.cn said, “The Chinese government has rejected a Philippine move to take their dispute regarding sovereignty issues
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS
THE Philippine government decided Tuesday to ask the United Nations arbitration tribunal to declare as illegal China’s nine-dash line map that covers a large part of country’s territory in the South China Sea including the disputed Spratlys group of islands and Bajo de Masinloc.
