China rejects Philippine UN mediation bid

 News
Feb 202013
 
China rejects Philippine UN mediation bid

Associated Press 2:38 pm | Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 AP FILE PHOTO BEIJING—China said Tuesday it has rejected the Philippines’ attempt to seek international arbitration over conflicting claims to territory in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that China’s ambassador to Manila, Ma Keqing, had returned Manila’s formal notification of the move to a Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) official. Hong said the proposal was historically and legally incorrect and contained unacceptable accusations against China. The Philippines informed China last month of its plans to take the countries’ conflicting claims to a tribunal operating under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It wants the panel to declare Beijing’s moves in the potentially oil-rich waters unlawful. The DFA said in a statement Tuesday that China’s rejection will not interfere with the arbitration process that the Philippines has started. “The Philippines remains committed to arbitration, which is a friendly, peaceful and durable form of dispute settlement that should be welcomed by all,” the statement said. Even if a tribunal ruled against China, Beijing could choose to ignore the ruling. Six governments have overlapping claims in the West Philippine Sea. China claims sovereignty over virtually all of it. Chinese paramilitary ships confronted Philippine vessels last year in a monthslong standoff over a disputed shoal. China has effectively controlled the shoal since June, when Manila withdrew its ships as a typhoon approached. There are fears that territorial conflicts in the region, Read More …

Binay: Chinese New Year reminder of PHL, China brotherhood

 News
Feb 102013
 
Binay: Chinese New Year reminder of PHL, China brotherhood

Chinese New Year. Seng Guan (信願寺) temple in Manila’s Chinatown district on Sunday was crowded with people mostly wearing red, hoping for good luck and happiness in the Year of the Snake. Klein Sze/ Ang Pahayagang Plaridel The celebration of the Chinese New Year should be a reminder to the peoples of the Philippines and China of their brotherhood amid their seeming differences, Vice President Jejomar Binay said Sunday. In his Chinese New Year message, Binay said the kinship of the Filipinos and Chinese span millennia, and Sunday’s occasion reminds them they can work together harmoniously. “New Year celebrations such as this remind us that China and the Philippines have more similarities than differences, more brotherhood than anything else,” he said in his message posted on his Facebook account. The Philippines and China had been engaged in a territorial dispute over parts of the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea). Last January, the Philippines handed a note verbale to Chinese Ambassador Ma Keqing to notify China of its decision to elevate its complaint to an Arbitral Tribunal. The Arbitral Tribunal is an option provided for by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). China’s nine-dash line overlaps with the territories of its Asian neighbors like the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. But Binay also pointed out several Filipino customs sprout from Chinese roots. He also said the age-old values of hard work, respect for elders, and sense of duty to our country “are common threads Read More …

China ships in disputed waters as tension runs high

 News
Feb 102013
 

Agence France-Presse 2:25 pm | Sunday, February 10th, 2013 TOKYO – Four Chinese ships were spotted Sunday in disputed East China Sea waters, Japanese officials said, as Tokyo considered disclosing video footage and pictures as evidence of a Chinese frigate’s alleged radar-lock incident. For the first time after Tokyo made the allegation last week, China sent maritime surveillance vessels near Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Tokyo and Diaoyu by Beijing, which also claims them. They were seen sailing in the contiguous waters near one of the outcrops as of 0000 GMT, the Japan Coast Guard said. Tokyo accused a Chinese frigate of locking its weapons-tracking radar on a Japanese destroyer — the first time the two nations’ navies have locked horns in the territorial dispute that has provoked fears of armed conflict breaking out between the two. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday demanded Beijing apologize and admit to the incident, which occurred late January, after Chinese authorities flatly denied Tokyo’s accusation. Japan’s Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Fuji TV on Sunday that Tokyo was carefully studying whether or how to disclose military data as evidence. However he also said he did not think China would “admit to it even if Japan discloses a variety of evidence, because it is trying to protect its national interest”. Onodera on Saturday told the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper that Tokyo had “evidence to show the fire-control radar chased after the ship (of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces) for Read More …

PH draws German backing on sea disputes with China

 News
Feb 072013
 
PH draws German backing on sea disputes with China

By Fat Reyes INQUIRER.net 6:13 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines – A German foreign minister on Thursday expressed his country’s support for the Philippine position to solve its sea disputes with China under international law, saying that peaceful resolution was best for the two countries. In a press briefing Thursday, German Federal Foreign Minister Guido Guido Westerwelle AP said that the Philippines’ territorial disputes with China on the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) was discussed and that his country remained supportive of peaceful resolution of the disputes. “We appeal to all sides to resolve all the questions in accordance with international law and in a peaceful and cooperative way,” Westerwelle said in a statement. Westerwelle and a 12-man delegation from Germany were in Manila for a two-day visit, the first by Germany’s top diplomat to the Philippines in 12 years. For his part, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said that he conveyed to his foreign counterpart the Philippine initiative to bring the territorial disputes before an arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) to “clearly establish the county’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its maritime entitlements in the West Philippine Sea.” “I asked him to continue supporting the Philippine effort for a peaceful and durable solution to this dispute,” Del Rosario said in a statement. Westerwelle, when asked by reporters to explain Germany’s support, Del Rosario said that a German professor of international public law was appointed as Read More …

China accuses Japan of ‘smear’ over radar incident

 News
Feb 072013
 
China accuses Japan of ‘smear’ over radar incident

Agence France-Presse 5:34 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 BEIJING—Beijing on Thursday accused Japan of seeking to “smear” it after Tokyo said a Chinese frigate locked its weapons-targeting radar on a Japanese warship, as the Asian giants are locked in a maritime row. Asked to respond to Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera’s description of the radar incident as a “threat of force”, Beijing foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “Recently Japan has been hyping up crisis and deliberately creating tension to smear China’s image.”    

Chinese warships enter West Philippine Sea

 News
Feb 042013
 
Chinese warships enter West Philippine Sea

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:12 am | Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—Chinese naval vessels entered Philippine waters on Feb. 1 amid efforts by the Philippines to peacefully resolve its territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea through arbitration in the United Nations. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday that a naval fleet of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) entered the West Philippine Sea “for patrol and training missions” this week. Xinhua said the three ships from the PLA Navy’s North China Sea fleet—the missile destroyer Qingdao and missile frigates Yantai and Yancheng—traveled through the Bashi Channel, an international sea route between Luzon and Taiwan, before entering the West Philippine Sea at 11:40 a.m. on Friday. The report said the training exercises would be held within Chinese “territorial waters.” China claims almost all of the West Philippine Sea, including parts close to the shores of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. UN arbitration The Philippines has protested Chinese incursions into waters within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but China insists those waters are part of its territory. Last month, the Philippines took its dispute with China to the United Nations for arbitration. The Philippines asked the United Nations to declare invalid China’s claim to parts of the sea that are within the Philippine EEZ. Manila also asked the United Nations to stop Beijing’s incursions into Philippine territory in the sea. It is not clear whether the Philippine action can proceed without China’s participation Read More …

SM Prime mulls $200-M syndicated loan

 Economy
Jan 312013
 
SM Prime mulls $200-M syndicated loan

MANILA, Philippines – Shopping mall giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. is planning to raise around $200 million through a syndicated loan facility to bankroll its aggressive expansion here and in China, a company official said. In an interview, SM Prime chief financial officer Jeffrey Lim said the company is in talks with several financial institutions for a syndicated loan transaction, targeted in the first or second quarter this year. Lim said the company remains on an expansion binge to capitalize on a booming economy and robust consumer spending. The firm has set a P63-billion three-year capital spending program to build up to 18 malls in its bid to become a regional player. SM Prime may spend P21 billion each year to build four to five new malls at home and one mall annually in China. SM Prime ended 2012 with 46 malls across the country and five in China, with an estimated combined gross floor area of 6.3 million square meters. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The SM China malls are enjoying healthy increases in rental rates with occupancy level currently at 95 percent. SM Prime continues to sees vast opportunities in China given the latter’s growing population and emerging middle-class. The group is currently looking to acquire five properties in its second biggest market to further widen its geographical footprint. The expansion is also in line with the SM Group’s strategy to list its China assets either in Hong Kong or Singapore by 2015 in Read More …

Fake title, fake owners

 Economy
Jan 282013
 
Fake title, fake owners

A prominent lawyer told Spy Bits that a six-hectare property owned by SM Development Corp. is allegedly being claimed by persons holding a land title that was already declared as “fake” by the Land Registration Authority or LRA. The SM property is located in Barangay San Rafael in Pasay City but the claimants – said to be the heirs of a certain Danilo V. Herrera – continue to insist it is theirs on the strength of a reconstituted title that, upon closer scrutiny, happens to cover another property situated in Malibay, also in Pasay. A 2003 report from the LRA said the Register of Deeds declared the claimants’ title spurious or questionable due to irregularities in its issuance, and that the title from which Herrera based his claim was declared as defective and even included among those recommended for nullification. The signature of the Register of Deeds who reportedly issued the title also seems to have been faked according to the National Bureau of Investigation. The lawyer said that what’s really strange is that Pasay RTC Judge Jesus Mupas issued the reconstituted title and a writ of possession favoring the claimants “ex parte” (one sided) without giving notice to SMDC. SM was able to obtain a temporary restraining order from the Court of Appeals last Jan. 24 directing concerned parties to cease and desist from enforcing the Writ of Possession earlier issued by Mupas, but for some reason, the Pasay RTC sheriff disregarded the order and even brought a demolition Read More …

Shanghai Morning Post cites Phl as most romantic destination

 News
Jan 232013
 

The Philippines has been named the “Most Romantic Destination” by the Shanghai Morning Post based on a consumer survey. The post Shanghai Morning Post cites Phl as most romantic destination appeared first on Good News Pilipinas. You might also like: China survey: Philippnes among best tourist destinations Huffington Post names Phl a great retirement destination Boracay beats Asian favourites to take crown as top destination

 Newer Entries