China takes the offensive


It was short and clear. And combative.

In 10 paragraphs, Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian made known last Sunday, April 16, his government’s anger over the decision of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. allowing the United States military to preposition and store defense equipment, supplies and materiel in sites “only a stone’s throw away from Taiwan.”

He warned what China, which boasts of the strongest military in Asia and third in the world, might and can do: “… we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures.”

He laid out to the Marcos government how it could be affected adversely in case armed hostilities erupt in Taiwan, where over 150,000 Filipinos work, and what it should do to help prevent that situation from happening: “The Philippines is advised to unequivocally oppose ’Taiwan independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the U.S. access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs.”

Two weeks earlier, when the pre-dominantly Catholic Filipinos were starting their observance of the week-long Holy Week retreat, the government released the location of the additional four EDCA sites: Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan; Camilo Osias Naval Base in Santa Ana, Cagayan; Camp Melchor dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela; and Balabac Island in Palawan.

EDCA stands for Enhanced Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the United States signed in 2014 which established “agreed locations” in the country where the United States Armed Forces can have access on a rotational basis.

Under EDCA, “the Philippines authorizes the United States forces, United States contractors and vehicles, vessels and aircraft operated by or for United States forces may conduct the following activities with respect to Agreed Locations: training, transit, support and related activities; refueling of aircraft, bunkering of vessels; temporary maintenance of vehicles, vessels and aircraft; temporary accommodation of personnel; communications; prepositioning of equipment, supplies, materiel; deploying forces and materiel and such other activities as the Parties may agree.”

The four new sites bring to nine the EDCA sites in the country. The five earlier agreed locations are Cesar Basa Air Base in Pampanga, Fort Magsaysay Military Reservation in Nueva Ecija, Lumbia Air Base in Cagayan de Oro, Antonio Bautista Air Base in Puerto Prinsesa and Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu.

The two sites that are driving China up the wall are Lal-lo Airport in Cagayan, which is 590 kilometers to Taiwan, and Camilo Osias Naval Base in Santa Ana, Cagayan, which is 623 km to Taiwan.

The ambassador explained: “Obviously, the U.S. intends to take advantage of the new EDCA sites to interfere in the situation across the Taiwan Strait to serve its geopolitical goals, and advance its anti-China agenda at the expense of peace and development of the Philippines and the region at large. Many Filipino politicians and ordinary Filipino people are questioning whether opening new bases will serve the national interests of the Philippines. ’Why are the new EDCA sites only a stone’s throw away from Taiwan?’ ‘How will the Philippines effectively control the prepositioned weapons in the military bases?’ ‘Why will the Philippines fight for another country through the new EDCA sites?’ These are soul-searching questions of the Philippine people and also doubt by people in China and across the region.”

That’s when he raised the worrisome possibility: “But we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities. The Philippines is advised to unequivocally oppose ’Taiwan independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the U.S. access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs.”

On April 10, Marcos said he will not allow the EDCA sites to be used in any offensive attack. He added in Filipino, “If no one attacks us, they don’t need to worry because we won’t fight them.”

Taiwan is one of China’s core issues. Since 1949 when the then Mao Tse Tung-led Communist Party of China took over the mainland after more than two decades of civil war and pushed the Chiang Kai shek-led Nationalist Party of China to Taiwan – an island about 100 miles away – the Beijing government has made the One-China Policy a pre-requisite in its relations with other countries.

Under the One-China Policy, which the Philippines, the U.S. and more than 180 countries have adopted, the Beijing-based People’s Republic of China is the legitimate government of China and Taiwan is a province of China.

For many years, the world has seen peace under a delicate situation of “no unification, no independence, and no use of force” policy. In recent years, however, Beijing finds Taiwan under President Tsai Ing-wen leaning more towards independence.
Two years ago, I asked a Chinese journalist about the possibility of an armed confrontation over Taiwan, he said, “Not in our lifetime.”
Last month, I asked him the same question. His answer: “I’m not sure anymore.”

Ways to make China comply if U.N. ruling on SCS favors PH

Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio at PPI June 23, 2016

Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio at PPI June 23, 2016

The Philippines is not exactly helpless if the United Nations Arbitral Court decides in our favor in the case we filed against China and China ignores it.

The Hague-based U.N. Artbitral Court is expected to decide on the case on July 7.

In Jan. 2013, the Philippine asked the U.N. court to

1. declare as illegal China’s all encompassing nine-dash line map;

2. declare as part of Philippine 350 nautical mile continental shelf low tide elevations (rocks or shoals that are seen only during low tide) where China has built permanent structures;

3. declare that the waters outside the 12 nautical miles surrounding the Panatag Island (Scarborough shoal) should be declared as part of the Philippines 200 natutical mile Exclusive Economic Zone.

China refused to participate in the Arbitral Court proceedings and has said many times that it will not adhere to whatever ruling the Court hands down.

In his lecture before members of the Philippine Press Institute yesterday at the Century Park Hotel, Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio said, “there is no world policeman to enforce the rule” but the following can happen:

1. The world’s naval powers which consider freedom of navigation and over flight their national interest have declared they will sail and fly in the high seas and the Economic Exclusive Zones of the South China Sea.

Carpio expects the United States, which insists on freedom of navigation in the maritime waters where some $5.3 trillion pass through annually, to “really wave the UN ruling.”

France’s Defense Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, called for “regular and visible” European patrols in the South China Sea during the recent Shangrila Dialogue in Singapore.

2. If the China National Offshore Oil Corporation lifts the oil and gas in the Reed Bank, the Philippines can sue the CNOOC in countries where the CNOOC has assets like Canada and the U.S.

3. China has secured four permits from the International Seabed Authority to explore the seabed, and has two pending applications. The Philippines can ask ISA to suspend the four permits and the processing of the two pending applications using the ruling.

4. The Philippines can also ask the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to suspend the processing of China’s extended CS claims until China complies with the ruling.

That’s why it is doubtful that China would withdraw from the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea over an adverse ruling on the case filed by the Philippines because if they are not part of UNCLOS they would not be able to explore the seabed.

Carpio said the Philippines would just have to be creative.Carpio proposed to suspend for 100 years any claim in the South China Sea and declare the area a Marine Protected Area and allow the reefs to recover. No military facilities. Only Coast Guards would be allowed, to protect the resource rich area.

Whoever opposes this brilliant idea does not love his people and does not care about the future of his children.

ZTE unveils Blade A2 — octa-core, PDAF, fingerprint scanner for cheap

ZTE has a new budget smartphone for the Chinese home market and it’s going to be really cheap despite the impressive internals it has.

zte-blade-a2-banner

The ZTE Blade A2 has a metal build sporting a 5-inch HD display topped with a 2.5D glass and is powered by a MediaTek MT6752 with 2GB of RAM and 16GB internal storage. ZTE also threw in a 13-megapixel rear camera with phase detection autofocus and a fingerprint scanner. All are supported by the sealed 2500mAh battery.

ZTE Blade A2 specs:
5-inch IPS LCD @ 1280 x 720 pixels
1.5GHz MediaTek MT6750 octa-core processor
Mali-T860 MP2 GPU
2GB RAM
16GB internal storage
13-megapixel rear PDAF camera w/ LED flash
5-megapixel front-facing camera
Dual-SIM
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.1
GPS w/ A-GPS
Fingerprint scanner
2500mAh non-removable battery
Android 5.1 Lollipop w/ Mifavor 3.2
143.8 × 70.2 × 7.9mm
Gold, Silver, Gray color options

The Blade A2 is available in two variants in China, a cheaper 599 Yuan (~Php 4200) that’ll work in two networks in their country and a more expensive 699 Yuan  (~Php 4900) that’ll work with any network.

Source

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China hopeful of better relations with Duterte government

Nine-dash-line

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, VERA Files

CHINA is hopeful that relations with the Philippines will be better under the government of Rodrigo Duterte, who will succeed President Benigno Aquino III on July 1.

In a regular press conference in Beijing Wednesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang was asked about statements by Duterte that he is willing to talk with China and go into joint exploration in disputed areas in the South China Sea.

China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang

Lu said they have noted reports about Duterte’s statements on China. “ As a Chinese saying goes, a good neighbor is better than a far-off relative. As long as we treat each other with sincerity, follow the spirit of seeking common ground while shelving differences, there is no obstacle that we cannot surmount, nor dispute that we cannot resolve. We hope that the new government of the Philippines can work with us towards the same direction, properly deal with relevant disputes, and bring the bilateral relations back to the track of sound development with concrete actions.”

Lu further said, “The sound and stable development of China-Philippines relations serves the fundamental interests of the two nations and peoples as well as regional peace, stability and prosperity. China and ASEAN countries have been in close communication on the relevant dispute, put differences under effective management and control, and maintained regional peace and stability and economic development.”

Duterte has been saying a lot, oftentimes conflicting, about relations with China. But he is consistent on his willingness to talk with China even on a bilateral basis, a departure from the insistence of the Aquino government that talks with the superpower neighbor on the disputed islands in the South China Sea should be multilateral, involving at least other claimants – Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan or countries in the ASEAN.

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte

Philippines and China relations is at its lowest with the filing by the Philippines of a suit against China questioning the legality of the latter’s all-encompassing nine-dash line map before the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea. Decision on the Philippine suit is expected in the coming weeks.

China has been expanding rocks that they occupy in the Spratlys into islands by reclamation and building what looks like military facilities.

Duterte, while saying that he is willing to set aside the issue of sovereignty and go into into joint exploration with China if the economic superpower would build train system around the country, he also said he would take a Philippine Navy ship to the nearest disputed feature in Spratlys and ride a jet ski and install the Philippine flag there.

In his latest statement after the May 9 elections, Duterte said a summit that would involve United States, Australia and Japan, aside from the six claimant countries, is needed resolve the South China Sea dispute.

China hopeful of better relations with Duterte government

Nine-dash-line

By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, VERA Files

CHINA is hopeful that relations with the Philippines will be better under the government of Rodrigo Duterte, who will succeed President Benigno Aquino III on July 1.

In a regular press conference in Beijing Wednesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang was asked about statements by Duterte that he is willing to talk with China and go into joint exploration in disputed areas in the South China Sea.

China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang

Lu said they have noted reports about Duterte’s statements on China. “ As a Chinese saying goes, a good neighbor is better than a far-off relative. As long as we treat each other with sincerity, follow the spirit of seeking common ground while shelving differences, there is no obstacle that we cannot surmount, nor dispute that we cannot resolve. We hope that the new government of the Philippines can work with us towards the same direction, properly deal with relevant disputes, and bring the bilateral relations back to the track of sound development with concrete actions.”

Lu further said, “The sound and stable development of China-Philippines relations serves the fundamental interests of the two nations and peoples as well as regional peace, stability and prosperity. China and ASEAN countries have been in close communication on the relevant dispute, put differences under effective management and control, and maintained regional peace and stability and economic development.”

Duterte has been saying a lot, oftentimes conflicting, about relations with China. But he is consistent on his willingness to talk with China even on a bilateral basis, a departure from the insistence of the Aquino government that talks with the superpower neighbor on the disputed islands in the South China Sea should be multilateral, involving at least other claimants – Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan or countries in the ASEAN.

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte

Philippines and China relations is at its lowest with the filing by the Philippines of a suit against China questioning the legality of the latter’s all-encompassing nine-dash line map before the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea. Decision on the Philippine suit is expected in the coming weeks.

China has been expanding rocks that they occupy in the Spratlys into islands by reclamation and building what looks like military facilities.

Duterte, while saying that he is willing to set aside the issue of sovereignty and go into into joint exploration with China if the economic superpower would build train system around the country, he also said he would take a Philippine Navy ship to the nearest disputed feature in Spratlys and ride a jet ski and install the Philippine flag there.

In his latest statement after the May 9 elections, Duterte said a summit that would involve United States, Australia and Japan, aside from the six claimant countries, is needed resolve the South China Sea dispute.