Albert Del Rosario News

When Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte visits China this week, he'll need to salvage something from a "pivot" to Beijing that has left him empty-handed, and exposed his neighbours to a new level of brinkmanship in the South China Sea.Despite his huge domestic popularity and great affection for China, Duterte is under growing pressure to push back at its growing maritime assertiveness. After avoiding the issue for three years, he has vowed to raise with President Xi Jinping a 2016…

The Philippines may consider two-way talks with China to resolve a territorial dispute in the South China Sea but only if it wins its case with Beijing at an arbitration tribunal in The Hague, Manila's foreign minister said on Friday. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas. Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim the waterways where about $5 trillion of ship-borne goods passes annually. China refuses to recognise the case lodged by the Philippines with the tribunal and says all disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks. Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario, who has resigned effective next month due to health reasons, said the court may hand down a ruling before May.

China is not aware of any plan to discuss the disputed South China Sea at an Asia Pacific leaders' summit next week, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday, amid tensions between China and the Philippines over the waters. For its part, the Philippines said it would not raise the issue at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to be held in Manila from Nov. 17 to 19. Chinese President Xi Jinping is to attend the meeting of APEC, which includes the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Canada and accounts for 57 percent of global production and 46.5 percent of world trade. "Everyone knows that APEC is primarily about discussing trade and financial cooperation in the Asia Pacific…

Calls grow for China to halt land reclamation. Southeast Asian countries on Tuesday backed a U.S. call to halt land reclamation in the South China Sea, underlining unease in the region over Beijing's continued expansion on disputed islands. China has said it does not want the issue raised at this week's meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur. But Malaysia Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said member nations agreed that "exercising self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate tension must be enhanced" in the South China Sea. Philippines Foreign Minister Albert Del Rosario accused China of carrying out "massive reclamation activities" in the disputed waters.

China has accused the Philippines of violating a 13-year-old informal code of conduct in the South China Sea with its building work on disputed islets, firing back again after repeated criticism of China's own construction work. China and the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed an agreement in 2002 to refrain from occupying uninhabited reefs and shoals in the sea, and from building new structures that would complicate disputes. In a statement just before midnight on Monday, China's Foreign Ministry urged the Philippines to stop its "malicious hyping and provocation" on the dispute, whose basis, it said, was Manila's illegal occupation of certain Chinese islands.

Southeast Asian foreign ministers have expressed concern at Chinese land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea, as the Philippines urged them to stand up to Beijing, reports AFP. The statement came after Manila warned fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a ministers' retreat in Malaysia that the 10-country grouping's credibility was at stake unless it dealt strongly with the "critical issue in our own backyard". ASEAN will push for an early conclusion of a maritime pact to defuse tension in the South China Sea, as the Philippines decried the grouping's inaction over reclamation activities by China in disputed waters.

The Philippines is pushing for a meeting among four Southeast Asian nations with conflicting claims to waters in the South China Sea so that they can hammer out a common stand in dealings with China, Manila's foreign minister said on Friday. Manila is waging a territorial dispute with China over the Spratlys and the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, an area believed to be rich in oil and natural gas deposits as well as fisheries resources. Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have claims in the sea, which is traversed each year by ship-borne trade worth about $5 trillion. Albert del Rosario said the Philippines wanted to hold talks with Brunei…

Philippine navy will soon return to a South China Sea island it lost to Vietnam 40 years ago to drink beer and play volleyball with Vietnamese sailors, symbolising how once-suspicious neighbours are cooperating in the face of China's assertiveness in disputed waters. Diplomats and experts describe the nascent partnership as part of a web of evolving relationships across Asia that are being driven by fear of China as well as doubts among some, especially in Japan, over the U.S. commitment to the region. When U.S. President Barack Obama visits Asia this month he will see signs that once-disparate nations are strategising for the future, even though he will likely seek to shore-up faith in America's "pivot" back to the region.

The Philippine navy will soon return to a South China Sea island it lost to Vietnam 40 years ago to drink beer and play volleyball with Vietnamese sailors, symbolizing how once-suspicious neighbors are cooperating in the face of China's assertiveness in disputed waters. Diplomats and experts describe the nascent partnership as part of a web of evolving relationships across Asia that are being driven by fear of China as well as doubts among some, especially in Japan, over the U.S. commitment to the region. When U.S. President Barack Obama visits Asia this month he will see signs that once-disparate nations are strategizing for the future, even though he will likely seek to shore-up faith in America's "pivot" back to the region.

Pressure is mounting on China and Southeast Asia to agree a code of conduct to keep the peace in the disputed South China Sea, but Beijing is warning of a long road ahead. Only last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to work out rules to ease tensions after a fresh Chinese campaign of assertiveness in the region. "The longer the process takes, the longer tensions will simmer and the greater the chance of a miscalculation by somebody that could trigger a conflict," Kerry said in Indonesia during a visit to Asia.