South Korea, Japan to hold talks on comfort women

 News
Apr 132014
 
South Korea, Japan to hold talks on comfort women

AFP FILE PHOTO South Korea and Japan are likely to hold director general-level talks in Seoul next week to discuss the issue of Japan‘s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women, Seoul government sources said Saturday. South Korea and Japan have been trying to set up a director-level meeting to try to resolve a series of pending issues arising from their shared history. Seoul reportedly wants the meeting, if held, to focus on the so-called “comfort women” issue while Japan insists that the topic should include territorial and other issues as well. “The talks will likely be held next week and South Korea is in the final process of discussion to fix the date of the director level-talks with the Japanese side,” one government source said, requesting anonymity. Other sources said that the meeting is likely to be held on Tuesday. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that the sexual enslavement issue will be the main topic of the talks which also are likely to include North Korea as a side issue. The talks, if held, will be the first official attempt by the two governments to tackle the “comfort women” issue. Historians believe that up to 200,000 women, mostly from Korea, as well as China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan, were forced to become sex slaves in Japanese army brothels.Grievances among a group of old-aged South Korean women who were sexually enslaved to serve at front-line Japanese military brothels during World War II have been a vexing source of diplomatic tension Read More …

PH case vs China a model for int’l sea disputes

 News
Apr 122014
 
PH case vs China a model for int’l sea disputes

This undated handout photo taken by the Philippine Navy and released April 11, 2012, by the Department of Foreign Affairs shows Chinese surveillance ships off Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014, accused China’s Coast Guard of firing water cannon at Filipino fishermen last month to drive them away from Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. AFP FILE PHOTO The Philippines’ case against China in the United Nations arbitral tribunal would be the country’s contribution to international maritime jurisprudence, setting an example of legal remedies that smaller nations could seek instead of submitting to lopsided negotiations with bigger countries, according to the Philippine ambassador to the United States. Speaking at a gathering of businessmen in Makati City on Friday, Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. asserted the Philippines’ right to seek international arbitration in the face of Chinese incursions into the West Philippine Sea, the part of the South China Sea within the country’s exclusive economic zone. “This arbitration case would be a model or an example for other smaller states in a similar situation to consider the dispute settlement mechanism under the Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) as a way of resolving disputes in a peaceful manner,” Cuisia said.   First of its kind “The arbitration case itself is the Philippines’ contribution to further strengthening Unclos… As the Philippine arbitration case against China is the first of its kind, the proceedings and its subsequent outcome would Read More …

Defense accord with US a ‘security cover’ for PH

 News
Apr 122014
 
Defense accord with US a ‘security cover’ for PH

US President Barack Obama (right) and President Aquino MALACAÑANG FILE PHOTO The new defense agreement the Philippines and the United States could sign on or before the visit of US President Barack Obama later this month is designed as a “security cover” for the Philippines amid the changing security landscape in the region. This is how a ranking government official privy to the talks described to the Inquirer the “Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation” that gives, among other things, a boost to the minimum defense capability posture of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. “It’s more for deterrence, a security cover for the Philippines,” said the official, who requesting anonymity for lack of authority to speak to reporters. “We are taking our neighbors into account as well,” the official added, without referring to  China with which the Philippines is locked in a bitter territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea, the part of the South China within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone. The United States has openly challenged China’s claim to 90 percent of the 3.5-square-kilometer South China Sea and sided with the Philippines as well as Japan in the territorial disputes. Japan and China are both claiming ownership of the Senkaku Islands (called Diaoyu Islands by China) in the East China Sea. According to the official, the draft agreement does not yet spell out how exactly the US military could boost the AFP’s capability, but “we are headed toward that.” The official noted that the press statement released Read More …

PHL aims for US defense deal before Obama visit

 News
Apr 122014
 
PHL aims for US defense deal before Obama visit

The Philippines said Friday it hopes to complete a new defense accord with the United States ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama this month, as a territorial dispute with China simmers. The chief Philippine negotiator, defense undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, said in a statement the latest round of discussions about an increased US military presence in the country was “very productive”. “This round brought us much closer to finding full consensus and the draft provisions on key points of an enhanced defense cooperation will be submitted to the president for his review,” Batino said. Philippine negotiators on Friday said the eighth round of talks on a proposed military agreement had seen both sides “finding consensus on key points of a draft”. The agreement proposes allowing more US troops, aircraft, and ships to pass through the Philippines, as well as storing equipment in this country that could help mobilize American forces faster – particularly in the case of natural disasters. The accord would provide “critical and timely support to the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (and the) achievement of the country’s minimum credible defense posture,” Batino’s statement said. The deal would not allow the US military to “establish a permanent military presence or base” or bring nuclear weapons into the country, in line with the Philippine Constitution. The proposed agreement could be signed before President Obama visits the Philippines this month, a foreign department spokesman said. “We aim to conclude the negotiations before the Obama visit,” Read More …

It’s a ‘test of sanity,’ says Ayungin soldier

 News
Apr 102014
 
It’s a ‘test of sanity,’ says Ayungin soldier

Members of the Ayungin Marines pay a courtesy call to Vice President Jejomar Binay at Coconut Palace. FRANCES MANGOSING/INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines – “Don’t lose hope,” a soldier previously assigned at BRP Sierra Madre tells future men who will be assigned there. Marine First Lieutenant Mike Pelotera led eight soldiers at the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusting ship that serves as the Philippine Navy detachment in Ayungin Shoal in the disputed West Philippine Sea, a resource-rich territory claimed by China but is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Pelotera’s team was surrounded by water for five months and he said the assignment was “a test of sanity.” Soldiers stationed in Ayungin usually serve for only three months. The nine-man Marine team was recently replaced by fresh troops last March, a second attempt for a rotation that month. On March 9, the Philippine government tried to resupply and bring new soldiers, but Chinese vessels surrounding the area blocked them. The next attempt on March 29, a Philippine civilian ship finally got past Chinese blockade after a two-hour standoff. “If they didn’t make it, we would have been stuck again,” Pelotera told INQUIRER.net. The rotation had been stalled because Philippine ships could not get past Chinese blockade. The soldiers at BRP Sierra Madre had to be content with airdrops. For five months, the soldiers at BRP Sierra Madre were not able to communicate with their families. “They have to endure loneliness,” Pelotera advised future soldiers of Ayungin. “But as time passes by, you Read More …

Can’t force China to comply–Palace

 News
Apr 102014
 
Can’t force China to comply–Palace

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.: Can’t force China to comply. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Even if a United Nations arbitration tribunal were to rule in its favor on the West Philippine Sea dispute, the Philippines cannot compel China to comply with the ruling, Malacañang said on Thursday. Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the country’s main purpose in filing the case is to prove that its claim to certain territories in the South China Sea is sanctioned by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and not to enforce compliance from China. “The primary objective is to prove that what we claim as part of the West Philippine Sea is based on a prevailing law, and that law is the Unclos,” Coloma said in the briefing. “The primary objective is not to make a country comply,” he said. “It’s not within our power to dictate what they (China) should do. What’s within our power is to protect our national interest,” Coloma told a Palace briefing. Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza earlier said that the Philippines has always believed that China, as a member of the international community of nations, was “legally bound” to accept and implement the ruling of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (Itlos). The Philippines’ filing of the case drew a sharp rebuke from Chinese officials, which accused the Philippines of seriously damaging the two countries’ relations and shutting the door to negotiations. Beijing, which claims virtually the entire West Philippine Sea, Read More …

China wants PH to drop arbitration case to heal diplomatic wounds

 News
Apr 082014
 
China wants PH to drop arbitration case to heal diplomatic wounds

By Matikas SantosINQUIRER.net 3:56 pm | Tuesday, April 8th, 2014 A China Coast Guard vessel attempts to block a Philippine government vessel as the latter tries to enter the China Second Thomas Disputed Shoals, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, to orate Philippine troops and resupply provisions Saturday, March 29, 2014. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – The new Chinese Ambassador to the Manila urged the Philippines to set aside its United Nations (UN) arbitration case over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) dispute in order to bring back the good relations of both countries. “The current difficulties in the bilateral relations, caused by some problems including the arbitration case on the South China Sea issue, are not what the Chinese side wishes to see, and are not in the common interests of both China and the Philippines,” Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua said in a statement after he presented his credentials to President Benigno Aquino III Tuesday. “It is China’s hope that the Philippine side could, in the spirit of seeking common grounds while shelving differences, work with the Chinese side to properly handle relevant disputes, and to overcome obstacles and bring the bilateral ties back to the normal track of development,” he said. The Philippines on March 30 submitted its memorial to the UN arbitration court seeking to invalidate China’s nine-dash line claim that covers nearly the entire South China Sea including portions of the Philippine 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. China has expelled Filipino fishermen from Bajo de Read More …

US Embassy closed April 9 for Araw ng Kagitingan

 News
Apr 082014
 
US Embassy closed April 9 for Araw ng Kagitingan

By Matikas SantosINQUIRER.net 2:31 pm | Tuesday, April 8th, 2014 US Embassy in Manila, Philippines. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – The United States (US) Embassy in the Philippines will be closed on Wednesday in observance of Araw ng Kagitingan (Day of Valor). “The US Embassy in Manila and its affiliated offices will be closed to the public on Wednesday, April 9, 2014, in observance of Araw ng Kagitingan, or Day of Valor, a Philippine holiday,” the Embassy said in a statement Tuesday. “The US joins the Philippines in honoring the sacrifices and heroism of Filipino and American soldiers who fought in World War II, particularly those who fought in Bataan, in defense of freedom and democracy,” it said. The Embassy and its affiliated offices will resume services on Thursday, April 10. RELATED STORIES: Free MRT, LRT rides for veterans this week US Embassy closed January 20 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day Follow Us Other Stories: Law expert: China’s actions may spur US-PH defense treaty Filipinos, other Asians top success index in US PH gov’t has other options to address sea dispute with China—Palace Obama, Aquino to tackle defense, China during state visit Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: Araw ng Kagitingan , Day of Valor , United States , US Read More …

Aquino pushes defense dialogue with Singapore

 News
Apr 032014
 
Aquino pushes defense dialogue with Singapore

A TOAST TO SINGAPORE’S GENEROSITY. President Aquino toasts Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam, thanking him in Malacañang on Thursday for Singapore’s post-“Yolanda” help. Tan, here on a four-day visit, flies to Western Samar on Saturday to deliver medical supplies to Basey District Hospital. EDWIN BACASMAS MANILA, Philippines—Facing an increasingly aggressive China, President Aquino on Thursday proposed a defense dialogue with Singapore to boost the two countries’ military defense ties, during visiting Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam’s courtesy call at Malacañang. “The Philippines proposed the holding of a defense dialogue to further strengthen our cooperation,” said Aquino at the Palace reception hall. “I believe that strengthening defense and security cooperation between the Philippines and Singapore is key to maintaining regional stability.” 45th anniversary This year marks the 45th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations. In the last few days, the Philippines has had to deal with China’s verbal onslaughts and naval maneuvers in the South China Sea, which the Philippines now calls the West Philippine Sea. After filing a memorandum with a United Nations tribunal challenging China’s “nine-dash line” claim in the international waterway on Sunday, the Philippine government drew a sharp rebuke from Chinese Embassy officials in Manila. Charge d’Affaires Sun Xiangyang said the move “seriously damaged” the bilateral relations between the two countries, and accused the Philippines of unilaterally shutting the door to negotiations and consultations. China, Taiwan and Asean members the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, which Read More …

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