INTRODUCTION Since the 90’s, two of the six claimant countries in the disputed Spratly Group of Islands possessed submarines in their respective fleets. After the year 2000, this would change with the arrival of the French-built Scorpene and the Russian Kilo Class Submarines in the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) and the Vietnam Peoples Navy (VPN) in 2014. Things are about…
Conflicting island and Maritime claims are the subject matters for the South China Sea (SCS) territorial disputes. The sovereign states involved are some ASEAN nations; outside ASEAN would be Taiwan and China. An estimated 3.37 Trillion worth of global trade passes though SCS annually which accounts for a third of the global maritime trade 80mpercent of China’s energy imports and…
Legal bindingness is one of the most contentious points in the consultations between ASEAN countries and China on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC). Legal bindingness will differentiate the COC from the nonbinding 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC); after all, a legally binding agreement was the original vision…
(A presentation made by (DENR) Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Undersecretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh during the Roundtable Discussion on West Philippine Sea/South China Sea organized by the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations (PCFR) and Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) held on 9-October-2019 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) CURRENT STATE OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCES IN…
My past research efforts have been mostly directed to Philippine environmental issues, maritime encroachment in Philippine waters as well as maritime safety issues as they impact the Philippines in both the West Philippine Sea as well as the China Sea to the north. I have since broadened my research to not only maritime issues –from the West Philippine Sea to…
The 2018 National Security Strategy of the United States revealed a change in posture, tacitly stated by Christopher Preble in his article “The Benefits of Engaging with China Far Outweigh the Costs and Risks” (30-January-2019) in The National Interest: The assumption that engagement with rivals and their inclusion in international institutions and global commerce would turn them into benign actors…
Oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface area, forming the largest habitat on the planet. Coastal and shallow-water areas contain some of the world’s most diverse and productive ecosystems, including seagrass beds, mangroves, and coral reefs. The 7000 islands of the Philippines are home to an enormous number of coral reef systems that not only contribute to global atmosphere health…
The Consultative Committee has presented to President Rodrigo R. Duterte the Draft Federal Constitution. Below are some comments that may be made in respect of the provision on National Territory contained in the draft that has been released online. ARTICLE I NATIONAL TERRITORY SECTION 1 The Philippines has sovereignty over its territory, consisting of the islands and waters encompassed by…
China is building militarized islands in the South China Sea and ignoring international law, including in Philippine territory. Experts think China plans to build a new base on strategic Scarborough Shoal. That calls for economic sanctions, and triggering of the U.S.-Philippine defense treaty. On Monday (10-April-2017), Reuters reported China Coast Guard and industrial fishing ship operations at Scarborough Shoal, the…
The Southeast Asian region is situated in a unique strategic environment that is shaped by the Pacific maritime domain. It is home to maritime nations sitting astride vital sea lines of communication and trade in the Asia-Pacific, with vast water resources and minerals, and oil and gas reserves. Shipping traffic through Southeast Asia is several times greater than the traffic…
PART 1 of 2 In the aftermath of the recent award (or ruling) by the U.N. Permanent Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea, new opportunities in our foreign relations have opened up which might lead to win-win solutions for the Philippines, China, U.S. and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Before getting into the national events…
Recently, in his good luck year (meaning age 88), FVR was unexpectedly designated by President Rodrigo Du30 as “Special Envoy” with the mission to “break the ice” between China and the Philippines – whose traditionally friendly relations had turned chilly, if not cold, with the 12 July 2016 ruling (award) by the U.N. Permanent Court of Arbitration about issues in…
THE SOUTH CHINA SEA ARBITRATION (The Republic of the Philippines V. The People’s Republic of China) The Hague, 12 July 2016 The Tribunal Renders Its Award A unanimous Award has been issued today by the Tribunal constituted under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the “Convention”) in the arbitration instituted by the Republic…
During the China-ASEAN Dialogue between Senior Defense Scholars held at Beijing, China on 11 – 15 March 2008, I presented a paper on Confidence-Building Measures Towards Greater Regional Stability. Military modernization in China was being perceived in a way that caused concern to some countries which fear a repeat of the arms race during the Cold War on one hand…
“[Beijing is] building a Great Wall of sand over islands claimed by several countries. China’s pattern of provocations toward smaller claimant countries on the basis of the sweeping 9-dash Line which is inconsistent with international law, and the wide asymmetry between China’s capabilities and of her weak neighbors, raises serious questions about Chinese intentions.”
Part I: MILITARY DANGERS AND ECONOMIC RISKS “War is the worst option. Peace is the common goal of all mankind…” — Sun Tzu, “The Art of War” Taiwan’s major newspaper, China Post’s headline on 06 April augured bad news for all of mankind because it announced a huge rise in military spending by countries around the world, thus: “Global military spending…
On 17 November, US President Barack H. Obama visited the Philippine Navy’s flagship, US-made BRP Gregorio del Pilar, the first US Coast Guard Hamilton Class 3,250-ton frigate combatant ship that was transferred to the Philippines in 2011. The second frigate was transferred in 2012, and named BRP Ramon Alcaraz. President Obama spoke with Captain Vincent Sibala PN (USNA’93) on the…