New PH map with ‘West Philippine Sea’ name to be out soon – Namria

TAGAYTAY CITY, Philippines — The new official government map showing the South China Sea being renamed as the West Philippine Sea could be out in two weeks’ time, the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (Namria) said on Tuesday.

John Fabic, Namria Information Management Department director, said the map would also show the extent of the country’s maritime borders based on its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (ECZ) under the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Law of the Sea.

“We’ve seen the first draft. There’s a new appellation for that area. It could be out in two weeks,” Fabic said at a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council conference.

Fabic said the initial draft has been submitted to Malacañang for review.
The new map was produced after President Benigno Aquino III last week  issued an administrative order renaming the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea.
To demarcate the nation’s territory, Namria map experts also established the baseline around country for its exclusive economic zone.

The map clearly shows that the Kalayaan islands (the portion of the disputed Spratly islands claimed by the Philippines) and Panatag shoal are well within the country’s ECZ, according to Fabic.

However, he declined to say if the islets, shoals, and reefs claimed by the Philippines were also renamed.
“We’ve seen the template but we also have to recall the old maps this would replace,” Fabic said.
“Let’s wait for the announcement from the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) and Malacañang,” Fabic said.

Aquino said the government would deposit a copy of the map and his order with the UN secretary general and notify relevant international organizations like the International Hydrographic Organization and the UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names.

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Aquino back from Russia, cites gains

MANILA, Philippines — President Benigno Aquino III and his entourage arrived in Manila on Sunday afternoon from the 20th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok, Russia.

The President’s plane landed at around 5:35 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2, 40 minutes early because of a tail wind.

In a five-minute speech delivered in Filipino, the President said that the APEC’s goals — make regional investments and trade strategies productive, the supply chains continuous and financial systems able to withstand crisis — have remained on track.

He highlighted his meetings with the leaders of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Chile. He said Chilean President Sebastian Piñera invited him to visit the South American country and discuss investments on aquaculture and mining, exchange of geothermal energy technology as well as the deployment of Filipino teachers.

He said the Singaporean, Malaysian and Vietnamese leaders also extended their “warm support” on matters pertaining to the West Philippine Sea.

“We have successfully imparted the new face of the Philippines: more open to business opportunities, fairer to those who are ready to invest and a lucrative center of commerce and trade not just in the Asia-Pacific but in the whole world,” he said.

He said the international community was abuzz over the fact that the “Philippines is now very different, more developed than others.” He said Filipinos should be ready to contribute to increasing globalization by reconsidering the country’s economic barriers that might hamper further development.

Aquino was met at the airport by Vice President Jejomar Binay, Philippine National Police Director General Nicanor Bartolome, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Jessie Dellosa and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, among others.

Clinton heads to China with hopes over sea tensions

AKARTA—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heads Tuesday to Beijing after talks in emerging US ally Indonesia as she voiced hope for progress in managing soaring tensions in the South China Sea.
Clinton, on her third visit to the region since May, encouraged a united front among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations as she stood firm in calling for freedom of navigation in the strategic sea.

The top US diplomat travels to China after sounding an optimistic note in Southeast Asia’s largest nation Indonesia, where she will meet Tuesday with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and visit the headquarters of the ASEAN bloc.

Clinton said she saw positive signs in Southeast Asia and was optimistic for movement on a code of conduct governing the South China Sea in time for an Asia summit in Cambodia in November to be attended by President Barack Obama.

“I think we can make progress before the East Asia Summit and it’s certainly in everyone’s interest that we do so,” she told a joint news conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

Clinton refrained from criticising China directly before her visit but signalled unease over Beijing’s recent establishment of a remote garrison in the South China Sea where six nations have often overlapping claims.

“The United States believes very strongly that no party should take any steps that would increase tensions or do anything that would be viewed as coercive or intimidating to advance their territorial claims,” Clinton said.

“We believe the nations of the region should work collaboratively together to resolve disputes without coercion, without intimidation, without threats and certainly without the use of force,” she added.

The United States has taken a vocal stance on the South China Sea — through which half of the world’s cargo flows — as the Philippines and Vietnam accuse a rising Beijing of intimidation to exert its claims.

But when Clinton visited Cambodia in July, ASEAN foreign ministers for the first time failed to reach a joint communique at their annual meeting as the nations stood divided on how to deal with an increasingly active China.

The United States and its partners believe a code of conduct would establish dialogue and mechanisms to manage disputes in the South China Sea and prevent flare-ups of the kind seen recently from escalating into full-blown conflicts.

In an effort that heartened Clinton after the divisive meeting in July, Indonesia’s foreign minister spearheaded a recent statement of ASEAN principles that includes the 10 nations working together on a code of conduct.

Natalegawa, who welcomed Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to Jakarta last month, said that his initiative was not aimed at countering China as a code of conduct was in the interests of all nations in the region.

“Absent a code of conduct, absent a diplomatic process, we can be certain of more incidents and more tensions in our region. So it is a win-win,” Natalegawa said.

The Obama administration has supported a greater role for Indonesia, seeing the populous and historically moderate Muslim-majority democracy as a positive force for the region and beyond.

US relations with China have been fraught with tensions, despite what US officials say is quiet cooperation in several areas including on pressuring Iran over its disputed nuclear programme.

Chinese state media have accused Clinton of trying to contain the Asian power’s rise. China claims most of the South China Sea and has generally preferred to negotiate individually with each nation instead of a united ASEAN.

Clinton’s last visit to China in May was overshadowed by a crisis over prominent dissident Chen Guangcheng, who fled to the US embassy after reporting beatings under arbitrary house arrest in his home in Shandong province.

China eventually allowed the blind activist, who angered authorities by exposing forced abortions under the one-child-only policy, to leave for New York to study.

A US official said that Clinton was expected to discuss human rights but that it was unclear if Chen’s case would again come up.

Clinton to urge ASEAN unity on South China Sea

BRISBANE, Australia – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling for Southeast Asian states to present a united front to the Chinese in dealing with territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Clinton will be in Indonesia’s capital Monday to offer strong U.S. support for a regionally endorsed plan to ease rising tensions by implementing a code of conduct for all claimants to disputed islands. Jakarta is the headquarters of the Association of South East Asian Nations, and Clinton will also press the group to insist that China agree to a formal mechanism to reduce short-term risks of conflict and ultimately come to final settlements over sovereignty.

She wants “to strengthen ASEAN unity going forward,” a senior U.S. official told reporters on board Clinton’s plane as she flew from the Cook Islands to Australia for a brief refuelling stop en route to Indonesia.

Indonesia played a leading role in putting the six-point plan together after ASEAN was unable to reach consensus on the matter in July. The official said the U.S. is “encouraged” by the plan but wants it acted on — particularly implementation and enforcement of the code of conduct, which has languished since a preliminary framework for it was first agreed in 2002. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to publicly preview Clinton’s meetings.

The U.S. has asserted a national security interest in the peaceful resolution to South China Sea disputes and hopes for progress to be made before a November summit of East Asian leaders that President Barack Obama plans to attend.

The U.S. position has riled China, which has become increasingly assertive in pressing its territorial claims with its smaller neighbors and wants the disputes to be resolved individually with each country. The U.S. says it takes no position on the conflicting claims but wants to see them resolved between China and ASEAN, which has collective clout that its 10 members do not have individually.

Clinton will travel to China on Tuesday to continue talks on the South China Sea and a number of other issues, including the crisis in Syria and ways to deal with Iran and North Korea’s nuclear programs.

Clinton will be in Indonesia on the second stop of an 11-day, six-nation tour that will take her to East Timor, Brunei and Russia’s Far East after her stop in China.

In Indonesia, the official said, Clinton would also raise human rights concerns, including a recent uptick in mob violence against religious minorities.

The official described the incidents as “disturbing” and said Clinton would be asking Indonesian authorities how they intend to deal with them. The U.S. has championed Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, as a model for a moderate Islamic democracy.

Human Rights Watch on Sunday called for Clinton to bring up such cases and press the government “to take concrete steps to address rising religious intolerance” in Indonesia. It also asked her to address Indonesian authorities’ use of blasphemy and criminal defamation laws that it says are being used to persecute minorities and political activists.

“Indonesia needs to recognize that oppressive laws and policies against religious minorities fuel violence and discrimination,” the human rights group said.

Philippines seeks Myanmar’s help in Scarborough row

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario (left) and Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin (right) sign the agreed minutes of the 2nd Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation at the DFA Friday. Photo by DFA-PISU

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines seeks Myanmar’s support in its West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) dispute with China as the foreign ministers of the two Southeast Asian countries met on Friday.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario on Friday said he hoped that Myanmar would back the “code of conduct” that some Southeast Asian nations had been promoting to prevent conflict in the sea where several of them have conflicting territorial claims.

“We think that a code of conduct should be substantive, and it should be crafted in a way that disputes are moved forward for settlement,” Del Rosario said.

Myanmar Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin and his delegation arrived in Manila Thursday for the second meeting of the Manila-Yangon Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation.

Del Rosario said he brought up the two-month long standoff in the Scarborough Shoal in his talks with Lwin.

“We discussed the West Philippine Sea issue, the peaceful resolution of the dispute in accordance with international law,” Del Rosario said.

China and Myanmar are close political and economic allies.

Lwin agreed to review the fundamental elements of the code as it pushed for setting disputes peacefully, said Del Rosario.

“Foreign minister Lwin said they are looking at it (the proposed code) and we hope that they will consider it,” he added.

The discussion came as Philippine and Chinese ships maintained their standoff over the Scarborough Shoal, an outcropping in the West Philippine Sea which they both claim.

The dispute began after Chinese government vessels blocked Philippine ships from arresting Chinese fishermen at the shoal in April.

China claims nearly all of the West Philippine Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighboring countries while the Philippines says the shoal is well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. With Agence France-Presse

Aquino: Philippines willing to share resources but not sovereignty

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino wants the whole region to benefit from the huge natural gas deposits in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) but won’t allow other countries to claim  areas that are rightfully the Philippines’.

“I am not empowered to give up any of our territory,” Aquino said during an open forum at a gathering of Wharton business school alumni in Makati City on Wednesday night.

Aquino was reacting to a suggestion that the Philippines and China enter into a 50-50 sharing arrangement for the energy resources in various disputed areas of the West Philippine Sea.

“Now, we have not stopped having communications with them in trying to look for the win-win situation,” the President went on. “But at the same time, you know, I am still bound by an oath that I took to defend and uphold the Constitution and enforce all of our laws.”

“If it’s clear that we have a 200-mile economic zone, exclusive economic zone, designated by the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, and both of us are parties to it, is it too much to ask that our rights are respected by our neighbors in the same token that we respect their rights?” he added.

Aquino stressed the government’s position to have the dispute resolved diplomatically.  He said the Philippines was in no position to engage China militarily.

“We do not want to present a threat to them in any shape, manner or form, or whatsoever in terms of military action,” he said. “I keep using a joke, even if it were just a boxing match, they’re 1.3 billion and we’re 95 or 93 million. We will not prevail, and that is not the route.”

“So I go back, if we are able to exploit these resources (in a manner) that redounds to benefits for the entire region, we will be less dependent on oil from the Middle East and North Africa,” he said.

South China Sea news

China’s propaganda war

The most popular Filipino in China today is “a retired investment and merchant banker, a retired Certified Public Accountant, and a retired economist who loves to dabble in history and political science, among many other interests”. His name is “Victor N. Arches II” and he is the reported author of an op-ed article that appeared in the Manila Standard Today on April 28, 2012. The article, “It belongs to China”, has been reproduced in its entirety in hundreds, if not thousands, of print publications and online news sites all over China.

“Even Filipino admits Huangyan Island belongs to China!” is typical of the introduction to the article  in English or in Chinese Pinyin character.

Just who exactly is this “Victor N. Arches II”? Ever since it appeared in the Manila Standard Today, I have been scouring the Internet to find out who he is anything but I found nothing. I could not even find a single Filipino with that surname. The closest I got was a “Victor Arch” from Indonesia who graduated from a university in Jakarta in 1994 but his postings in Facebook are in Bahasa Indonesia.

He could be a real person but if he had written an article in the past, it would surely have surfaced in the Internet. If he graduated from any college or university in the Philippines or if he ever worked as a CPA in the Philippines, his name would invariably have appeared somewhere in the Internet and a search engine would have surely tracked it.

It is also suspicious that he would use “II” instead of “Jr.” which is what most Filipinos are accustomed to.
My suspicion about the true identity of the author was also aroused by the style and substance of the article which was uncannily similar to the way Chinese articles have dealt with the subject.

Read more here or more South China Sea news here.

Scarborough will not be Mischief Reef redux

If Filipinos could only unite to save the Scarborough Shoal from being invaded by China as Filipinos did to save Jessica Sanchez from being eliminated in American Idol, perhaps the Philippines can still manage to retain its ownership of the disputed shoal in the future. But just as Sanchez cannot rely on the American Idol celebrity judges to save her anymore, the Philippines also cannot rely on the United States to save its Scarborough Shoal.

This US policy was made clear at a high level Washington DC meeting on April 30 between the US — represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and the Philippines — represented by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin where the US explained that it will not take sides in the Scarborough Shoal dispute but will encourage both countries to seek a peaceful solution to the standoff at the shoal, now in its fourth week.

“The US supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all those involved for resolving the various disputes that they encounter. We oppose the threat or use of force by any party to advance its claims. And we will remain in close contact with our ally, the Philippines,” Secretary Clinton said.

The most recent “standoff” with China began on April 8, 2012 when eight Chinese fishing vessels set anchor in the Scarborough Shoal — known locally as the Panatag Shoal — where they were spotted by a Philippine Navy surveillance plane.

On April 10, 2012, officers of the Philippine navy ship BRP Gregorio del Pilar, a Hamilton class cutter obtained last year from the US, boarded the Chinese fishing vessels and discovered large amounts of illegally collected corals, giant clams, and live sharks.

China then dispatched surveillance ships to pressure the Philippines to free the detained Chinese fishing boats. While the Chinese fishermen were allowed to leave with their fishing vessels, the Philippine Navy confiscated their catch after determining that the “poaching of endangered marine resources is in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).”

Since the standoff began, the Chinese fisheries officers have remained in the Scarborough Shoal with 9 ships and with jets constantly patrolling the skies and occasionally swooping down to harass Filipino fishermen to coax them to leave what China calls its “Huangyan Island”.

The Philippines asserts that the Chinese have encroached on their Panatag Shoal which is part of the territorial sovereignty of the Philippines, being only 124 nautical miles off the nearest base point in Masinloc, Zambales province within the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) while China is more than 500 nautical miles away. Read more here about South China Sea news.