By VERA Files CHINA has invited President Benigno Aquino III to a celebration commemorating the 70th year since the end of the Second World War, which the Chinese government said will be the grandest anniversary marking Japan’s surrender to Allied Forces in 1945. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua confirmed that the invitation for
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS CHINA’S President Xi Jinping may boycott the 2015 Leaders Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to be held in Manila on Nov. 18 and 19, a diplomatic source said. The source said the reason for Xi’s change of mind about attending this year’s APEC summit was the remarks of
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
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS MUCH of the tension between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea territorial conflict would have been avoided if President Aquino knew when to keep his mouth shut. In the 21st International Conference on the Future of Asia sponsored by Nikkei last Wednesday in Tokyo, Aquino was asked
Fiery Cross before and during the reclamation By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS THE standard press statement of Malacañang and foreign affairs officials prior to the President’s attendance in the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is for the Philippines to push for the adoption of the Code of Conduct in the South China
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS IT means a lot to the Philippines that Vietnam submitted a Position Paper to the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations that is handling the complaint filed by the Philippines against China on the conflict in the South China Sea. Probably so as not to further antagonize China, with whom
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS The Philippine case against China’s nine-dash line before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal gained support from Vietnam in a statement it submitted to the court in The Hague on Thursday. The Vietnam Foreign Ministry said the tribunal has jurisdiction to settle disputes concerning the interpretation of the U.N. Convention on
By HARRY L. ROQUE TWO years after the Philippines initiated arbitration proceedings against China under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, China belatedly published in the web site of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs its official Position Paper on the arbitration. The Chinese position was divided into three. First, that
BY ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS THE Position Paper of China on the case filed by the Philippines with the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal showed the wide gap between the two countries as regards their conflicting claims on th South China Sea islands, reefs and rocks. The meeting between President Aquino and Chinese President Xi
