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.

Chinese sub to dive in West Philippine sea: media

BEIJING – A Chinese submersible that last month set a new national record will dive in the South China Sea next year, state media said Tuesday, as Beijing asserts its claim over the resource-rich area.
The mission is “part of the preparations for future commercial mining of the seabed”, the China Daily quoted the China Ocean Mineral Resources and Research Association as saying.

The South China Sea, which extends from China’s South Coast towards several South East Asian countries, is a flashpoint for territorial disputes between China and its neighbors.

China claims the entirety of the sea on historical grounds, but Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines dispute this.

Tensions in the South China Sea have risen recently, with China and the Philippines locked in a maritime dispute over the Scarborough Shoal, a reef off the Philippine coast.

The China Daily said the “Jiaolong”, China’s most technologically advanced manned submersible, would conduct the mission next April and May, after it reached depths of over 7,000 meters in the Atlantic Ocean last month.

The craft gives China the ability to explore 99 percent of the world’s seabeds, the China Daily said.

Its first mission in the area aims to study the “formation and evolution” of the South China Sea bed, the China Daily reported.

Chinese researchers estimate that the South China Sea holds more than 213 billion barrels of oil, equivalent to at least 80 percent of Saudi Arabia’s reserves.

Those deposits are an enticing prospect for China, the world’s largest energy consumer, which relies on imports to meet over half of its oil needs.