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Lawmakers File Motion Condemning China’s Claim

April 20, 2012 by ·

Call for inquiry into why armed forces did not assert nation’s sovereignty

Manila Congressmen Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares filed a resolution in the House of Representatives condemning China’s claim to Scarborough Shoal, which lies 230km west of Subuc Bay in central Luzon.

“We do not want to go to war, but we must assert our sovereignty, through whatever means we can,” Casiño said.

The two also called for a congressional inquiry on the inability of the Armed Forces, the Philippine Navy, the Philippine Coast Guard to assert the country’s sovereignty over the shoal. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Diplomatic Ties, International News ·

Iran Announces Nuclear Advances But Offers New Talks

February 17, 2012 by ·

Iran proclaimed advances in nuclear know-how, including new centrifuges able to enrich uranium much faster, a move that may heighten its confrontation with the West over suspicions it is seeking the means to make atomic bombs.

Tehran’s determination to pursue a nuclear program showed no sign of wavering despite Western sanctions that are inflicting increasing damage on its oil-based economy.

“The era of bullying nations has passed. The arrogant powers cannot monopolize nuclear technology. They tried to prevent us by issuing sanctions and resolutions but failed,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a television broadcast on Wednesday. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Diplomatic Ties, Foreign Policy, Nuclear Facility ·

US, Philippines Discuss Increasing Military Ties

January 27, 2012 by ·

Two decades after American forces were evicted from their biggest base in the Pacific, the Philippines may ask the United States back to counter China’s growing military power. The United States and the Philippines are in talks to increase the American military presence in Southeast Asia.

According to a report in The Washington Post newspaper, the Philippines has indicated a willingness to host American ships, surveillance aircraft and joint military exercises.

The U.S. was forced to leave its naval base in the Philippines Subic Bay in the 1990s after lawmakers rejected a new treaty.  But Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia analyst with the University of New South Wales says the Philippines’ leadership is now reaching out to the U.S. to counter China’s growing military power and continued confrontational incidents between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the South China Sea. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Diplomatic Ties, Foreign Policy ·